Parliamentary Expenses

A new regime for the payment of Parliamentary expenses was introduced immediately following the last General Election in May 2010. This page gives details of the money that has been paid to Fabian for the costs of his work as an MP and in providing services to constituents.

MP's personal expenses claimed

Travel: Fabian normally travels to and from London once each week by train. All railway tickets are purchased via the East Coast Rail website by him in advance to take advantage of lower fares and no return journey exceeds the maximum allowance which is equivalent to the full second class return rail fare. Fabian routinely spends less than half the maximum allowance for his rail journeys.

Fabian tries to make many local journeys both in Leeds and London using his bicycle for convenience and as a personal contribution to sustainable travel. No allowance is received in respect of bicycle jouneys and the bike travels free of charge in the train to London.

Local car mileage is claimed in respect of some necessary journeys connected with constituency work in and around Leeds.

Second home: Fabian owns a small flat West London which he uses as a home when working at Westminster. He is currently making no claims at all from public funds in respect of this accommodation. This is partly possible because of the current low mortgage interest rates. If these increase significantly in the future, Fabian may have to review his decision to make no claim on the available second home allowance.

Office provision: Fabian rents his office space from the Leeds NE Constituency Labour Party that holds the tenancy of the rooms at 335 Roundhay Road. The proportion of rent paid and of associated other costs is precisely calculated in proportion to the floor area of the space occupied the constituency office.

Staffing: Fabian employs a part time member of staff in his office at Westminster. There is also a small team of staff working at the constituency office at 335 Roundhay Road. Details of the personnel in Leeds can be found on this web site. At the beginning of October 2011, Laura Harper, Fabian's personal assistant, started a period of maternity leave and has been temporarily replaced by Christine Towler. The additional maternity leave costs will be reflected in due course within information on Fabian's expenses published by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) and may wrongly distort simplistic comparisons with other MPs expenses.

Running costs: Expenses are paid from public funds to provide the constituency office. These include rent/rates, utilities, telecommunications, stationery, postage and rentals of office equipment.

Total expenses paid:

The report of the total money paid to Fabian for the present financial year up to the 11th January 2011