| answer text |
<p>The House of Commons Commission (which was responsible for Members Estimate matters
prior to the establishment of the Members Estimate Committee in 2004) agreed at its
meeting of 21 October 2002 to implement a retention policy for financial papers, which
would entail detailed claims, receipts, invoices and warrants being retained for three
years after the end of the year of the transaction. This included documentation relating
to Members’ allowances. The policy was incorporated into the Authorised Records Disposal
Practice (ARDP) produced by the Parliamentary Archives and made available to Members
and staff of both Houses on the parliamentary intranet in 2004. Decisions made by
the House of Commons Commission and the Members Estimate Committee are published on
the Parliament website.</p><p>Destruction of these records was paused in 2010 pending
the conclusion of police inquiries, but was restarted on the previous basis in 2012
once legal proceedings were concluded. The only documentation destroyed in the last
12 months in relation to Members’ expenses has been background information to support
claims, which was no longer needed after the 2010 general election when the House
ceased to be responsible for expenses claims. This was done in April 2014.</p><p>While
the original financial documents relating to MPs’ expenses were destroyed in compliance
with the Authorised Records Disposal Policy (ARDP), more than a million documents
and receipts, with some personal information redacted, were published online and subsequently
updated. This information remains available on the Parliament website at: <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/members-allowances/house-of-commons/"
target="_blank">http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/members-allowances/house-of-commons/</a>.</p>
|
|
