Allowances Search User Guide
What can MSPs Claim?
The Members Expenses Scheme sets a maximum limit on certain costs that Members can claim in any financial year. There is no automatic payment of allowances to Members. It is a claims-based system where costs are met on the basis of actual expenditure incurred by the Member.
Further details of the Members Expenses Scheme are available on the Parliament’s website.
Understanding the Allowances Data
It is important to be aware of the following when analysing the information available using the Allowances Search tool:
Data Redactions
Certain specific data has been removed (redacted) on privacy grounds. This includes information such as addresses of MSPs, addresses travelled to (which may include for example those of constituents), names of hotels used, and details of third parties.
Pooling of costs
Data protection issues arise for MSPs where their staff are paid directly from their allowances. These salaries cannot be disclosed for data protection reasons and therefore are not included.
MSPs can:
- Employ their own staff;
- Employ their own staff and ‘pool’ costs to employ other staff on a shared basis.
- Pool costs and employ all staff on a shared basis.
Most parties pool some costs to employ shared staff. Please note that during Session 2 of the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Socialist Party employed its entire staff on a pooled basis while the Scottish Green Party met most of its staff costs from pooled resources. This means that the pooled cost figures shown against MSPs of those parties are primarily and substantially employment costs. This does not mean that those MSPs were necessarily higher spenders than other MSPs. It simply means that, as the employment costs are not specifically identifiable as staff salaries, they have not been removed as is the case with MSPs who employ their staff directly. Accordingly ‘ranking’ of Members Support Allowance expenditure cannot sensibly be done
Definition of the ‘Claim Month’
Because of the way claims are processed, they are searchable only by ‘Claim Month’ rather than by the date on which the expenditure was incurred. The first date appearing in any claim will determine the month under which the whole claim is allocated. For example if a claim covering January, February and March is submitted, then the claim month will be shown as January.
Verifiable expenditure
Allowances are reimbursed only if supported by the relevant invoices or receipts. The only exception is mileage which is detailed in a claim form and reimbursed at a set rate. The Allowances Search tool enables users to see scanned receipts for the financial year 2005-06 and claim forms that MSPs have submitted to support their claims.
Tax Liability
Certain elements of Members’ allowances are taxable e.g. Family Travel.
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How to use the MSP Allowances Search Facility
The MSP Allowances Search application allows members of the public to view details of MSP allowances claims directly from the Scottish Parliament web site. It provides a search engine that allows one to search by any combination of four criteria:
- financial year, and then relevant claim month or range of claim months
- one, many or all MSPs
- one, many or all allowance types
- one, many or all expense types
For the financial year 2005/06 the query results are displayed as a summary table with access to scanned images of the allowance claim form and associated documentation (bills, receipts, etc.).
For all other financial years (starting with 2006/07) the system has been improved. The query results are displayed as a summary table with each row giving access to the individual transactions that make up the claim amount. This secondary table contains the same category of information as the scanned images did for 2005/06, but does so in a more concise and legible fashion. An illustration of the format is shown below in Steps 6a and 6b of this User Guide.
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How the MSP Allowances Search works
Use of this facility is explained in a step-by-step way, using a series of screenshots depicted below.
Step 1: choose Financial Year and Claim Months of interest
Click the arrow to the left of the first criterion to choose the financial year of interest (please note this is a mandatory selection). Select year or range of months from the drop down menus or leave these selections blank to query all months available for the financial year you selected.
Step 2: choose MSP
Select the MSP or MSPs by clicking on the arrow at the second criterion. This provides an alphabetical list by surname of all current MSPs and former MSPs for whom data is provided. Tick the box next to the relevant MSP or MSPs. If unsure of the MSP sought, details of MSPs and regions or constituencies can be found on the MSP page of the Scottish Parliament web site, or by using the postcode search tool. It is possible to view the expenses of all MSPs by not ticking any of the boxes. However this is likely to return a very high number of records and may take some time to process.
Step 3: select the Allowance Type
See above for more information on the different types of allowances MSPs can claim. Select one or more Allowance Type by clicking on the arrow at the third criterion and then tick the relevant boxes. Select all allowance types by not ticking any of the boxes.
Step 4: select Expenditure Type
Certain types of expenditure can be claimed under each of the Allowance Types. Click the arrow at the fourth criterion for information on one or more of these and then tick each of the relevant boxes. To view all types of expenditure, do not tick any box.
Once all search criteria have been selected, click ‘Find’ at the foot of the screen to process the enquiry.
Step 5: the Search Results screen
The results page shows how many records the search has found and lists them by MSP then by Allowance Type.
If financial year chosen is 2005/06, then the application will provide query results with links (‘View Details’) to scanned images of the allowance claim form and associated documentation (bills, receipts, etc.). This is shown in Step 6a below.
Step 6a: Scanned Image Results for Financial Year 2005/06
For financial year 2005/06 the MSP allowance claims are shown as scanned images. There are buttons that allow the user to move forwards and backwards between the pages of the scan if there are multiple pages. There are also buttons that allow users to zoom in to see specific detail.
For financial years 2006/07 onwards, the detailed information of MSP allowances is shown as a table of electronic information, as shown in Step 6b below. The query results shown indicate the same information as was previously shown by the scanned images, but does so in a more concise and legible fashion. This table can again be accessed by clicking on the ‘View Details’ link on the right hand side of the screen.
Step 6b: Electronic Data Results for Financial Year 2006/07 Onwards
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which allowances has a particular MSP claimed?
Use the Allowances Search to select the MSP (or MSPs):
Leave the selections of Allowance and Expenditure Type clear (to select all Allowance and all Expenditure Types), and select the Claim Month or range of Claim Months. The search will provide a list of all allowances claimed by the MSP relating to the year and Claim Month or range of Claim Months selected. Click ‘View Details’ to view scanned receipts and claim forms or claim details.
Where can I view expenditure from previous years?
SPICe Briefings for previous years, providing details on the MSP Allowances Scheme, are available below. They do not contain expenditure of individual MSPs.
Prior to 2003-4 annual information on the claiming of allowances was published in the SPCB’s Annual Reports (available on the Parliament’s website: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/corporate/anrep-accts/index.htm)
Why is the amount charged to the Member's allowance different from the amount detailed on the supporting invoice or receipt?
There are several reasons why this might be the case.
- Members may share costs with a third party or meet part of the costs personally.
- There may be several Expenditure Types included on the same claim form. For example, an MSP might claim mileage, taxi, car parking etc. on one form. The amounts could be claimed under different Expenditure Types.
Why can’t I see the supporting invoice or receipt in some instances?
In some instances, the quality of supporting invoices or receipts means that it has not been possible to scan them. It is for this reason that this facility is available for 2005-06 only. Rather than reproducing receipts of varying quality as indicated in Step 6a, above, each expense claim has been included as a single descriptive line, which was backed up by a receipt supplied by the MSP.
Additionally, payments may be made on the basis of contractual agreements. In such cases, the Parliament makes regular payments based on the agreed contract. Therefore no invoices are generated.
Allowances and expenses rates are available on the Scottish Parliament web site:
Allowances and Expenses Rates 2005-2006 (23KB pdf)
Allowances and Expenses Rates 2006-2007 (23KB pdf)
Allowances and Expenses Rates 2007-2008 (23KB pdf)
Enquiries
If you have any enquiries about this User Guide or would like a hard copy version, please contact the Scottish Parliament Public Information Service on 0131 348 5000 or email sp.info@scottish.parliament.uk.
If you are a member of the media with an enquiry please contact the Scottish Parliament Media Relations Office on 0131 348 6265.
This User Guide was prepared by SPICe on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body |
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