MPs claimed £5,600

THE MPs for Solihull and Meriden claimed £5,692.40 in expenses in four months, latest figures show.

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MPs claimed almost £45,000

SOLIHULL’S two MPs claimed almost £45,000 in the six months after the expenses scandal broke.

Liberal Democrat Lorely Burt and Conservative Caroline Spelman claimed £44,983.71 in costs including accommodation, council tax, travel and stationary, from June to December.

Solihull MP Mrs Burt claimed the most, £32,301.77.

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£32k bonus for boss at crisis NHS trust

A BOSS at a hospital authority slammed over children’s care and maternity changes paid a boss a £32,000 bonus, newly released figures show.

The bonus for the un-named director was paid as Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust began to gather controversy over plans to change maternity at Solihull Hospital.

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MP claims £2,500 for newsletters

MERIDEN MP Caroline Spelman claimed almost £2,500 for constituency newsletters and £17.21 on refreshments from her expenses, her latest voluntary declaration shows.

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The MP was in the news over her claims again this week when her party disclosed she would repay £2,167.51 expenses.

Sir Thomas Legg told the Conservative MP to return the cash for cleaning, utilities and telephone bills as he completes his audit of past claims.

Earlier this year Mrs Spelman was asked to repay £9,600 by a Commons watchdog over claims her secretary looked after her children.

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MP Spelman pays back more expenses

MERIDEN MP Caroline Spelman has been told to pay back £2,167.51 expenses – taking her total payback this year to almost £12,000.

Sir Thomas Legg told the Conservative MP to return the cash for cleaning, utilities and telephone bills as he completes his audit of past claims.

Earlier this year Mrs Spelman was asked to repay £9,600 by a Commons watchdog over claims her secretary looked after her children.

Earlier this month, expenses were revealed for last year, 2008/09, showing Mrs Spelman claimed £7,523.27 out a possible £24,006 for her constituency home.

These were £4,669.93 utilities; £1,131.34 cleaning and £1,722 council tax. She has not claimed any costs this year.

David Cameron has ordered shadow cabinet members to reveal the latest payback and urged the Government do the same. Shadow members are paying back a total £24,782.18.

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MPs claimed more than £30k on homes

THE MPs for Solihull and Meriden spent more than £30,000 of public cash on their second homes in 15 months, figures released today show.

Lorely Burt and Caroline Spelman, right, spent £23,359.20 and £7,523.27 respectively between April 2008 and June this year. This was out of a maximum £48,228.

Mrs Spelman claimed more than £4,000 on utilities such as gas and electricity compared to over £600 for Mrs Burt.

Liberal Democrat Mrs Burt claimed for a wider range of costs on her second home, in London. Read them here and here.

These were: £18,888.06 mortgage interest; £2,335 food; £914.92 council tax; £636.50 utilities and £584.72 other (television licence and insurance).

Conservative Mrs Spelman claimed costs for her constituency home.

These were £4,669.93 utilities; £1,131.34 cleaning and £1,722 council tax. She has not claimed any costs this year.

In 2008/09 MPs were given £24,006 to spend on their second homes, with restrictions.

Claims from previous years caused a national furore when revealed in The Daily Telegraph newspaper.

These were without sections edited out. These edits feature in the claims released today.

An official probe into the future of the system by Sir Christopher Kelly recommended mortgage claims and cleaning be abolished.

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MP uses "self-promotion" expenses fund

MERIDEN MP Caroline Spelman took £840 expenses from a “self-promotion” fund that an official review recommended be abolished.

In a voluntary declaration of latest spending, Mrs Spelman said she spent £829.85 on distribution of constituency newsletters and £11.50 for official photographs from a Commons debate.

Mrs Spelman made the withdrawal from the communications allowance despite this month’s official probe over the Parliamentary abuse of expenses recommending it be abolished.

In his report, which has been backed by all parties, Sir Christopher Kelly wrote: “There is little evidence that the communications allowance is succeeding in promoting more effective political engagement, and much evidence of it being used for self-promotion.

“MPs who wish to communicate proactively with their constituents should be encouraged to
continue to do so.

“But they should have to pay for it out of their administrative and office budget, where the cost would have to compete with other demands rather than being seen as a free good.”

Members can claim up to £10,400 a year from the fund. The administrative and office budget is £22,393. The other funds are for accommodation and staffing.

A focus group member who gave evidence to the probe said: “Of course I want to know what my MP is up to, but I get a regular newsletter that tells me little and actually looks more like a bit of free publicity.

“I’d rather see the money used to allow MPs to employ a welfare/advocacy worker in the constituency.”

Abolishing it would have saved £5.1m in 2007/08, Sir Christopher’s report said.

Conservative front bench members have been told to disclose their expenses on the party’s website. Mrs Spelman is shadow secretary of state for communities and local government.

Mrs Spelman was told in March to repay £9,600 by a Commons watchdog over claims her secretary looked after her children. She spoke about the issue this week.

The publication of her new expenses comes as Mrs Spelman criticises councils for publishing "newspapers" with taxpayers' money. The party pledged "tougher rules on town hall publicity spending". Read more here.

No "vindication" for expenses row MP

MERIDEN MP Caroline Spelman said she did not feel “vindicated” by revelations over members’ expenses months after being rapped over her own claims.

In a Q&A with readers of The Independent newspaper she said: “In all honesty there was no sense of schadenfreude – others have asked me the same question but I'm just not made that way.”

Mrs Spelman was told in March to repay £9,600 by a Commons watchdog over claims her secretary looked after her children.

Two months later the storm of MPs’ expenses broke when The Daily Telegraph began publishing details of claims.

Mrs Spelman told the left-wing newspaper: “The public are absolutely right to expect the highest standards from their MPs, and MPs from all political parties have let them down.

“But I think it's also important to remember there are a good many MPs who were not involved in the expenses scandal and are simply trying to do a good job for the communities they represent.

“One of the saddest things for them and their families is that all MPs have been tarred with the same brush.”

Two of the nine questions directly addressed expenses.

Abigail Burton of Sutton, Surrey, asked: “Even if it was ‘entirely within the rules’ why did you think it reasonable to use my money to pay your nanny?”

Mrs Spelman said: “The full report of the findings is available from Parliament and all I can do is ask people to read it before they form a judgement.”

She re-iterated the Standards and Privileges Committee’s findings that the overpayments were “unintentional”.

Rebecca Fielding of Northampton asked: “If the public hate politicians so much and you're not very well paid, why don't you go into another career?”

Mrs Spelman said: “I had a career before politics but I went into politics because I passionately wanted to help people. I certainly didn't go into it for fame or money.”

Thomas Broadbent, from Hereford, asked whether, as a Tory, she supported “widening inequality, the desecration of poor communities in Wales and the North and a return to Victorian values?”

The MP said it is “painfully ironic” that Labour had widened the gap between rich and poor.

Elsewhere, Mrs Spelman, the shadow secretary of state for communities and local government, pledged a Tory annual limit on immigrants and denied one questioner’s claim that party women were “seen and not heard”.

She said: “Far from it. A fifth of the shadow cabinet are women and I can tell you they are both seen and heard!”

Labour could only “crack it” to get more women MPs by having women only shortlists, she said. This move is now being considered by party leader David Cameron.

She also played down claims of a hung Parliament. She said: “I don't think all the polling suggests that, and there is still a lot of work to do between now and the election.”

Read the full interview here.

Commons expenses boss was "soft" on Spelman

THE former boss of the Commons expenses watchdog who this week quit for spending taxpayers’ money on a home where he entertained his mistress was “soft” on Meriden MP Caroline Spelman, who paid her nanny from the public purse, The Daily Telegraph reports.