Parliamentary Allowances of Dr. Brian
Iddon
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Below are all the allowance claims Dr Iddon made for the year 2007/08. All signatures and names of employees as well as the names and addresses of companies, who money has been paid to by the Department of Resources, have been redacted, either for security reasons or in order to comply with the Data Protection Act. The Department of Resources has been instructed to publish the claims for all 646 Members of Parliament for a four year period (2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08) next July or before. In future Dr Iddon intends to add all his claims for the 2009/10 financial year to this site. A complete summary of allowances claimed by all Members of Parliament can be found here: http://www.parliament.uk/about_commons/hocallowances/hocallowances06.cfm Explanatory Notes Allowance Claims - available to download in Adobe PDF format 2008/09 2007/08 The Department of Resources (formerly known as the Department of Finance & Administration and, prior to that, the Fees Office) is responsible for the payment of salaries and allowances to Members. The core services provided include payroll, payments, finance, personnel and pensions. DoR provides a wide range of impartial and confidential information for MPs and their staff on a personal basis relating to their financial entitlements from public funds in respect of their Parliamentary duties. The Department of Resources is also responsible for providing the whole range of administrative services for and on behalf of MPs and their staff as well as factual guidance and advice. The Department is responsible under the Freedom of Information Act for publishing the amounts of allowances claimed by each Member. The House of Commons is a public authority under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This means that the House is under an obligation to consider requests for information about Members’ allowances, and where appropriate to disclose it. They summarise and collate information about MPs' allowances for disclosure as part of the Parliamentary publication scheme each Autumn, and also deal with ad hoc requests for disclosure. Members of Parliament are not public authorities for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act and for this reason they are not under an obligation personally to disclose information about themselves or their allowances. However, Members do have responsibilities under the Data Protection Act 1998 including a legal obligation to register with the Information Commissioner.
Dr Iddon’s rent is paid directly to his landlord by the Department of Resources. In the 2008/09 financial year, Dr Iddon claimed £13,781.91p of this allowance (maximum permitted was £24,006.00p), which includes subsistence costs - i.e. 57.41%. Dr Iddon moved into a modest 1-bedroom, unfurnished flat in 1997; he has not moved since. He furnished his flat in 1997 but has not renewed anything since. Dr Iddon decided in 1997 not to rent an apartment with garage accommodation provided. He usually arrives in London late (between 11.15 p.m. and 1.00 a.m.) on a Sunday evening and finds it cheaper to pay for parking at his accommodation on a demand basis (one night a week when Parliament is sitting). He then transfers his car the following morning to the House of Commons car park. The £8 congestion charge cannot be recovered. In 1997, his flat was owned by a non-profit-making Trust, but the local Council recently precipitated the sale of the block to a private company whose HQ are in the USA. At the point of sale, his rent was protected and the annual increments agreed in his original contract are met. The rent includes all service charges (including telephone rental) and the cost of central heating and hot water. Dr Iddon rents premises in central Bolton. The rent paid is calculated at the beginning of each contract period by an independent professional surveyor and includes a contribution to business rates, heating and lighting and the cost of provision of two car parking spaces. Dr Iddon is responsible for the caretaking of the premises by agreement. All the major monthly bills are paid directly to suppliers by the Department of Resources Dr Iddon occasionally claims for ‘petty cash’ which is transferred from the Department of Resources directly into an office bank account. This money is used to purchase small items locally, and Dr Iddon keeps all receipts and requires his Office Manager to run a ‘petty cash book’, which is open to inspection. This system is run so that small items can be purchased quickly, as and when required, often at cheaper rates than from the catalogues of Parliament’s preferred supplier. Dr Iddon claimed £17,174.34 out of a permitted amount of £22,193 (77.38%) to run his two offices in the 2008/09 financial year. His office in London is provided free of rent and telephone charges. In the last financial year (2008/09) Dr Iddon claimed for £95,315.33p (which includes the employer's contribution to NICS) out of £100,205.00p (95.12%) to pay his three members of staff working in his London and Bolton offices, his caretaker and occasional part-time workers. Salaries are paid directly to members of staff by the Department of Resources. His three full-time members of staff have been appointed through advertising the vacancies and appointing by interview from short-lists. Dr Iddon and his wife usually travel to and from London together by car, which requires him to provide car insurance at business rates (non recoverable). In the 2008/09 financial year he claimed £5,280.10p for himself and occasional rail journeys to and/or from London for his wife and members of staff attending training courses in Westminster. Members of Parliament are allowed to travel by road (the mileage allowance is 40p per mile for the first 10,000 miles and 25p per mile thereafter), rail (first class) or air (business class). Dr Iddon does not claim the £10,000 Communications Allowance.
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