Complete records of expense claims made by every Cabinet minister have been published by Telegraph.co.uk for the first time. The uncensored copies of documents and receipts submitted by senior members of the Government contain crucial details which were covered up in the official data released by Parliament, and which hold the key to abuses such as flipping and tax avoidance. Sensitive information, such as precise home addresses, phone numbers and bank account details, has been removed from the files by the Telegraph’s expenses investigation team. But the locations of second homes, together with a partial postcode, have been included to enable a level of scrutiny which was denied to the public by the widely criticised official release. Other details, such as the names of major companies, have also been left in the Telegraph files so taxpayers can see where their money has been spent. Letters between MPs and the parliamentary fees office, which provide evidence of disputed claims and, in some cases, collusion by officials, are published here. All such letters were removed in their entirety in the documents published by parliament. The files cover the period between 2005 and 2008, with claims for some MPs also available for parts of 2004 and 2009. In the coming weeks the expense claims of every MP, searchable by name and constituency, will be published on this website. There will be weekly releases region by region and a full schedule will be published on Tuesday. Tomorrow, the Daily Telegraph will publish a comprehensive 68-page supplement setting out a summary of the claims of every sitting MP. Yesterday’s publication of parliament’s heavily edited version of the expenses documents cast doubt on a pledge by Gordon Brown to use “transparency” to restore the public’s faith in the democratic system. David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said: “I think that people will be disappointed with the amount of information that is held back.” Vince Cable, the deputy Liberal Democrat leader, said: “The publication of the expenses in this format has only made people even more frustrated.” Amid widespread confusion over who was ultimately responsible for the blacking out of claims, backbench MPs said that they had been warned off publishing their own uncensored information by the Commons authorities, who said they could breach data protection laws. Sally Keeble, a Labour MP, said: “We were sent this disgraceful letter saying if we did [publish the information uncensored] we risked getting into trouble and if that happened we would be on our own.” MPs may now face a legal challenge, as Parliament stands accused of subverting a High Court judgment which ordered the full disclosure of the taxpayer-funded expense claims last year. Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said: “I am against the sort of redaction and censorship which has clearly taken place.” Details removed by the Common’s authorities but available in the documents published by the Telegraph include: * Receipts submitted by the Prime Minister for money spent at Ikea and the nine pages removed entirely from Mr Brown’s 2004-05 file before publication. * Some of the most surprising expense claims, including Douglas Hogg’s moat cleaning, Sir Peter Viggers’s duck island and the lawnmower maintenance bill submitted by Alan Duncan. * The word “chauffeur”, which was blacked out of receipts submitted by Michael Martin. Although the name of the firm used by the Speaker is included in the official versions, the type of business was been removed for reasons which are far from clear.Cabinet expenses in full published by Telegraph
Complete records of expense claims made by every Cabinet minister are being published by Telegraph.co.uk for the first time.
Friday, 19 June 2009
Posts
