MPs’ business costs

Dave Doogan

IPSA paid £1,394,720 against 1,375 published rows for Dave Doogan between 2019-20 and 2025-26 as the member for Angus CC, then Angus and Perthshire Glens CC. These are the costs of running an office and employing staff under IPSA’s rules. They are not salary, and the largest part of them is wages IPSA pays to the member’s employees rather than money the member receives.

By category, 2022-23

330 claims, £295,595 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

Category	What it covers	Claims	Paid	Share
Staffing	The salaries and employment costs of the people an MP employs to run their office and casework. IPSA pays these directly; they are not money an MP receives.	2	£187,730	63.5%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	251	£30,083	10.2%
Accommodation	The cost of somewhere to stay for an MP whose constituency is far enough from Westminster that IPSA's rules allow it. An MP representing a London seat is not eligible on the same terms.	31	£23,751	8.0%
Travel	Journeys between the constituency and Westminster and within the constituency. Until 2018-19 IPSA published one travel category; from 2019-20 it publishes travel by the MP, by staff and by a dependant separately.	46	£54,031	18.3%

Every year in the register

Dave Doogan’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2019-20 and the last is 2025-26. Figures are not adjusted for inflation, so a rise between two distant years is partly a rise in prices. Select a year to read it on its own.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Miscellaneous	Total
2019-20	31	£13,921	£2,728	£1,575	£11,352	—	£29,576
2020-21	103	£121,969	£28,592	£17,610	£7,807	—	£175,978
2021-22	223	£167,421	£23,762	£24,096	£30,920	—	£246,199
2022-23	330	£187,730	£30,083	£23,751	£54,031	—	£295,595
2023-24	291	£192,915	£24,895	£21,943	£47,801	—	£287,554
2024-25	289	£235,603	£21,860	£20,188	£44,744	£538	£322,933
2025-26	108	—	£35,668	£1,217	—	—	£36,885

A year in which Dave Doogan joined or left the House part-way through is a part year, and is not comparable with a full one.

What each category is made of, 2022-23

The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£176,183
Pooled staffing services	1	£11,547

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Equipment - purchase	23	£6,128
Rent	4	£5,500
Utilities	16	£5,307
Stationery & printing	49	£2,092
Cleaning services	45	£1,803
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	7	£1,783

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Rent	12	£22,100
Council tax	5	£936
Utilities	14	£715

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Air travel	7	£31,314
Hotel - London	1	£7,227
Mileage - car	8	£5,663
Rail	8	£3,627
Parking	5	£2,481
Other public transport	6	£777

Largest claims, 2022-23

The 15 rows IPSA paid most against, with IPSA’s own description of each. Read the description before the amount: IPSA publishes most of a member’s staffing as one row for the whole year — “Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the ⟨year⟩ year” — so the largest row here is usually a year of wages for the member’s employees and not something bought.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2023	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2022-23 year	£176,183	£176,183
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Air travel	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£17,886	£17,886
5 April 2022	Staffing	Pooled staffing services	Scottish National Party Research Team (SNP)	£11,547	£11,547
31 March 2023	Staff Travel	Air travel	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£8,041	£8,041
31 March 2023	Staff Travel	Hotel - London	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£7,227	£7,227
21 March 2022	Office Costs	Equipment - purchase	Computer, laptop, PC, tablet & accessories	£3,391	£3,391
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Mileage - car	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£2,424	£2,424
31 March 2023	Staff Travel	Rail	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£2,213	£2,213
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Air travel	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£2,208	£2,208
31 March 2023	MP Travel	Parking	Aggregated figure for travel during 2022-23	£2,191	£2,191
28 March 2023	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
28 February 2023	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
31 January 2023	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
29 December 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842
29 November 2022	Accommodation	Rent	—	£1,842	£1,842

Claims refused and money repaid, 2022-23

3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £417 repaid. A refusal is not a finding of wrongdoing — most are claims outside the scheme’s rules, or submitted without the evidence IPSA requires — and it is shown because leaving it out would show only the money that went out.

What this page does not show

Whether any of it was justified. IPSA accepted these claims under its own rules and the register records what was paid, not whether it should have been. A large total is not a finding about the member.

Nor how Dave Doogan compares with another member. After staffing the largest headings are accommodation and travel, and both are decided mostly by where a constituency is: a member several hundred miles from Westminster is eligible for costs a member with a London seat is not. Two members’ totals are two sets of rules as much as two sets of choices, and the length of service differs too.

It is also not pay. IPSA sets and publishes MPs’ salaries separately and they are not in this register; the staffing figure here is the salaries of the member’s employees.

All MPs’ business costs · Dave Doogan’s register of interests and votes · Sources