All MPs are able to claim expenses and allowances to allow them to carry out their work in Parliament and in their constituencies. Here is a short summary of what MPs are allowed to claim for, with information about the expenses and allowances which Mark has incurred.

Most of the publicity over recent months has been on the issue of the Additional Costs Allowance which covers accommodation costs for MPs who represent constituencies outside London.

In June 2009, following the publicity concerning MPs’ expenses claims, Sir Thomas Legg, a retired senior civil servant, was appointed to carry out an audit of all MPs’ claims relating to accommodation for the period 2004-2009.

The enquiry into MPs' expenses claims led by Sir Thomas Legg has toughened up the rules on what MPs can claim but has found that all the expenses claimed by Mark were acceptable.
 
Mark said: "I am obviously very pleased that Sir Thomas Legg and his team have given me a clean bill of health for these expenses.”

Click here to read the letter from Sir Thomas Legg.

Over the last 5 years, Mark has ranked, on average, 363rd out of 645 in the list of claims made by MPs for the Additional Costs Allowance. He has a modest flat in London that he stays in overnight when he is away at Westminster. Mark also uses it to work in when he’s not in the House of Commons.

Mark’s main home is and always has been his family home in the constituency and he has never made any claims in connection with that. He has never ‘flipped’ his ‘second home’ address, or changed his address for tax purposes.

On average, about 13% of the total allowances Mark has received go on accommodation costs. Most of the allowances he receives – about 80% of the total – are spent on the cost of employing staff, IT equipment, stationery, the cost of running a constituency office and communicating with constituents.

Mark’s staff are paid according to scales set by Parliament and there is a cap on the total amount that can be spent. At present, Mark employs 4 staff (3 full time, and one half time) on a permanent basis, and occasionally employs additional staff for short term projects. One of his staff is based in his Parliamentary office at Westminster, and the remainder are based in his constituency office in Edinburgh. He does not employ any members of his family.

Mark has a very busy constituency office situated on a main street in his constituency, Leith Walk, with an ‘open door’ drop-in policy. Mark and his office staff deal with approximately 1500 constituents a year. Since he was first elected as MP in 2001, Mark and his staff have dealt with more than 14200 constituency cases or enquiries. Mark also holds regular drop-in constituency surgeries – three every Friday. Details of how to contact Mark are given here.

About 7% of the expenses Mark claims are for travel, mainly between his constituency and Westminster. Mark has consistently had one of the lowest travel claims amongst Scottish MPs – in fact, over the last 3 years, he has ranked 55th (out of 58) for travel claims amongst MPs from Scotland.

In June 2009, the House of Commons published details of MPs’ expenses for the years 2004-2008. To see Mark‘s claims in full for 2004-2008, click here.

It has now published details of MPs claims for the ACA allowance (‘second home allowance’) for 2008-9, and for the first quarter of 2009-2010 for the equivalent allowance.

Click here for a link to the relevant pages on the House of Commons website.
Mark’s total claim for the ACA allowance in 2008/9 amounted to £14221.51.
Click here for a summary of Mark’s 2008/2009 ACA claim.

The system of MP expenses and allowances is likely to undergo radical change as a result of the proposals made by the 'Kelly' report, published on 4 November. Mark believes that the package should be implemented by the House of Commons as soon as possible.