MP expenses data deadline extended

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The data relating to allowance claims for staff, second homes and travel was ordered for release after a long-running battle under the Freedom of Information Act.

The House of Commons authorities negotiated an extension to the deadline until after the Information Tribunal delivers its verdict on an appeal against a similar ruling.

They were given until last Wednesday to appeal against the more recent ruling by Information Commissioner Richard Thomas.

But the Commons Commission - the House's top management committee chaired by Speaker Michael Martin - has so far declined to say whether it intends to do so.

Mr Thomas said last month that there was a "legitimate public interest" in disclosing more details under each of the allowance claim headings.

Currently, only total annual figures are released by the Commons. They averaged £135,800 per MP last year.

Although the ruling relates only to claims in 2003/4 by several MPs - including Gordon Brown and Tony Blair - the Information Commissioner has let it be known that he expects the principle to be adopted across the board.

Mr Thomas's earlier ruling related specifically to claims under the Additional Costs Allowance, a £23,000 fund available to the vast majority of MPs to buy, or rent, and maintain a second home.

That case, appealed against by the Commons, was heard by the Information Tribunal, which presides over disputed FOI rulings, in a two-day sitting earlier this month. It heard how MPs could claim up to £400 a month shopping without receipts and could technically put an iPod bought from a supermarket on their expenses.