The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, set up to, among other things, make the expenses system of MPs more transparent, costs £7million per year to run compared to the old fees office which cost a mere £2million a year. One of the things it demands of MPs, though, is timeous delivery of details of their expenses claims. A friend of mine submitted a freedom of information request asking for details of the expenses scheme for IPSA staff, the actual expenses paid to IPSA staff, and a reason why senior staff business costs have not been published on the IPSA website as promised.
You would imagine that IPSA would want to reply promptly, wouldn't you? The answer was due on the 15th of October - my friend is still waiting. Getting a little irate, he's lodged a complaint with the ICO (good luck with that, I've been waiting two years for a judgement from them). Neither organisation, apparently, practices what it preaches, and neither lives up to the standards they expect of others.
For the avoidance of doubt, my friend who made the request and the complaint is not a politician, is not employed by a politician, isn't employed by any political party and, in fact, is not employed in politics at all, he's just a chap who gets cheesed off at waste in the public sector. More power to him and others like him, I say.
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