FOI 40-26: A request for a breakdown of MLA expenses between 2024 and 2026

Information Standards Freedom of Information Response

Our ref: FOI 40-26
17 July 2026

Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”)

I am writing to confirm that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) has processed your request dated 15 June 2026 in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). In your request, you asked:

“…Under FOI legislation please provide me with a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet breakdown of MLA expenses claimed between the years 2024 to 2026. Please provide the following column headings for each entry:

 - name of MLA

- a detailed breakdown of “other costs” labelled :

• travel costs compared to general area they are travelling from

• breakfast/ lunch/ other food and drinks claimed

• office items purchased

- dates each claim was made

- any rejected claims and reasons.”

 

Our response

Information relating to Members’ expenditure is already publicly available on the Northern Ireland Assembly website under Members' Salaries and Expenses. All Members’ itemised expenditure, including the cost, expense type, transaction date and the name of the supplier being paid, is published on a quarterly basis.

Information on the categories of costs that may be recovered, the amounts allowable and the criteria that must be met in order to recover costs is set out in the Assembly Members (Office and Staffing Costs and Allowances) Determination (Northern Ireland) 2025 (‘the Determination’). The Determination is supported by the Administrative Guide, which provides further guidance to Members on the operation of the Determination.  Those documents are available here:

In relation to travel, the Determination provides for an Annual Assembly Travel Allowance (ATA), which is for travel from the Members’ constituency to Parliament Buildings, and for an Annual Constituency Travel Allowance (CTA), which is for travel within the Members’ constituency. The allowance is a fixed annual amount, with the amount linked to the constituency represented. It is paid monthly via payroll and the published information provides details of the total allowances recovered.

These figures exclude incidental travel costs incurred by Members because of their wider role within the Assembly and are referred to as “Parliamentary Travel” costs. The travel amounts reimbursed under Parliamentary Travel have been published under FOI 25-26.

A breakdown of claims which have been rejected, including the value of the claim and the reason for rejection, is provided in Appendix A. The response has been prepared on a calendar year basis.

 

Further Information

You have the right to request an internal review of this decision by the Assembly Commission.  If you wish to request such a review, please write to me at the above address.  If, after that review, you are dissatisfied with the way in which the Assembly Commission has handled your request for information, you may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Your request for information and our response may be published in the disclosure log maintained by the Assembly Commission under a publication scheme agreed with the ICO. The request and our response will be anonymised. 

Yours sincerely

INFORMATION STANDARDS