House of Commons, Members’ Allowances Financial Year 2005/06

Allowance Expenditure April 2005 – March 2006 For Nadine Dorries MP.
Breakdown of Expenditure:

Cost Of Staying Away From Main Home: £21,634
London Supplement: (For London MPs Only) £0
Office Running Costs: £21,559
Staffing Costs: £68,006
Members’ Travel: £8,123
Members’ Staff Travel: £0
Centrally Purchased Stationery: £790
Stationery: Associated Postage Costs: £2,031
Central IT Provision: £1,082
Other Costs: £0
 
Total Expenditure: £123,225

Click on the link below to find out more on the headings above:
http://www.parliament.uk/about_commons/hocallowances/hocallowances06.cfm

Expenses and Register of Members Interests

The media make much of what an MP earns and the 'associated' expenses. One of the first emails I received as a new MP was from a constituent asking how I was going to spend all the money I was now going to earn! I realised at that point what a good job the media does; in order to fill their news pages and airwaves on the day the expense accounts are published, they left the public with a very warped impression of what an MP both earns and does to earn it. The constituent who thought I had just entered financial hyperspace said that he had heard it on the Jeremy Vine show!

I have in fact taken a cut in salary in order to become an MP and, having left the business swim, have limited my future earning potential.

An MP's package is available for all to view on parliament athttp://www.parliament.uk/site_information/allowances.cfm

Members' Allowance Expenditure is calculated from April, to the March of the following year. In the following October the figures are published in the public domain.

As a new Member, this means the expenditure incurred since I was elected in May 2005, through to March 2006 was published in October 2006 – a breakdown of which is at the top of this page.

Members’ Expenditure is basically broken down into three components;

Staffing allowance up to £84,081.00

This enables me to pay for a parliamentary researcher, a parliamentary assistant, administrative help in the constituency and temporary help on specific projects such as in a major debate or when I use temp admin cover for the holidays.

My staff are not elected members and what they earn and how that allowance is divided up between them is entirely their own business. The allowance is only used to pay for staff employed by myself. This allowance also includes my employers National Insurance contribution.

Would I employ my family or friends? If I needed to yes, absolutely. Politics is a tough environment and almost everything I deal with is confidential. Many MP's use spouses, partners, people they can trust 100%, it's about trust not money.

My daughter covered the staff holidays in London during the summer. I have her permission to state that for this she was paid the minimum wage.

Additional Costs Allowance up to £21,634.00

This allowance pays for a flat in Westminster. Sounds good? Well as a mother of three and a husband I have been married to for over twenty years the only place I want to be at night is at home. However, that just isn't possible when I don't finish until very late in the evening and start early the next morning. The ideal for me would be if the House of Commons could be at the bottom of my garden, but it's not...

Incidental Expenses Provision up to £20,000.00

This pays for the entire office in London and my office in the constituency. It includes absolutely everything you need to run an office from the paper clip to the printer ink, stamps etc.

This allowance also funds my annual Westminster report which is delivered across Mid Beds and gives my constituents a breakdown as to some of the things I have been doing over the last year for the salary I earn.

Travel expenses are from a different pot, this covers my travel around the constituency and my petrol and train fares backwards and forwards to London depending on whether I commute or drive. I anticipate that my mileage around the constituency and backwards and forwards from home to London will between 20,000 - 30,000 miles per year.

The mileage allowance is paid at 40p - 50p per mile. If I wanted to use a bike I would receive 20p per mile for the bike - don't ask, it's beyond me too!!

My salary £59,095.00

Perks, whatever you may read, there are none! Straight salary and that's it. No frills, no overtime, no bonus. Great holidays, but they just compensate for the 80 hour 7/7 weeks during 'term time'. And frankly, with school age children, if the holidays didn't make up for the gruelling weeks I couldn't do it. Having said that, even during the holidays I have been contacted with work related issues almost every day.

I have just noticed on another MP's website that I am allowed to claim for all sorts of things including getting my dry cleaning done, news to me! Sounds more hassle than it's worth.

Register of member's benefits and interests

There is an office which is known as parliamentary standards office and there lives a registrar who is fearsome.

If I receive any payment or benefit which amounts to more than 1% of my salary, £590, as a direct result of my being a member of parliament I must declare it to the registrar.

Declared Entries In The Register Of Members’ Interests

Wimbledon - In the Summer of 2005 my husband and I were lunch guests, along with other new MP's and their partners, of Barclays Bank at Wimbledon. The cost was apparently a staggering £600!

Trip To Israel – From the 11th to the 15th June 2006, I visited Israel on a trip hosted by Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI). CFI contributed the costs of flights, accommodation and some meals. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Official Guests Department) contributed to the costs of travel inside Israel, some accommodation and meals. (Registered 29 June 2006)

Details of declarations in the Register can be found on the link below:

http://pubs1.tso.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmregmem/060919/memi08.htm

Although I only need to register any benefit over £590 on the official forms, I will use this website to register everything regardless of the amount.

I have received a £150 payment for speaking at a lunch which I have donated to the Ladybirds playgroup in Ampthill.

With regard to interests, I own a house on the coast in South Africa. 

My local association, like all political associations of all political parties does receive donations from individuals. Donations are not under any circumstances made out to me and nor do I in any way whatsoever personally benefit from any donations made to the local association, In fact, I don't even know who makes the majority of donations to the Conservative Association.

I would rather not know and my local chairman respects this.

I even buy my own coffee!

I am afraid donations are how politics works in this country. Until we have the debate on whether we move over to state funding via taxation we are stuck with it.

I will update my interests and benefits as they occur. If you should have any queries on any of the above please contact Peter my researcher on handp@parliament.uk

To any journalist reading this - I will be happy to discuss my salary and allowances with you, but let's have yours on the table at the same time!