MPs’ business costs
Mr Douglas Alexander
IPSA paid £884,909 against 818 published rows for Mr Douglas Alexander between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South CC, then Lothian East 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, 2015-16
43 claims, £58,383 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. | 1 | £5,223 | 8.9% |
| Office costs | Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage. | 8 | £1,351 | 2.3% |
| 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. | 1 | £534 | 0.9% |
| Starting up and winding up | The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest. | 33 | £51,274 | 87.8% |
Every year in the register
Mr Douglas Alexander’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 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 | Starting up and winding up | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-11 | 113 | £78,374 | £16,373 | — | £8,814 | — | £103,560 |
| 2011-12 | 119 | £88,412 | £17,273 | — | £19,046 | — | £124,731 |
| 2012-13 | 136 | £96,838 | £18,492 | — | £13,208 | — | £128,538 |
| 2013-14 | 175 | £135,755 | £19,191 | — | £19,434 | — | £174,380 |
| 2014-15 | 138 | £132,713 | £20,563 | — | £28,166 | — | £181,442 |
| 2015-16 | 43 | £5,223 | £1,351 | — | £534 | £51,274 | £58,383 |
| 2024-25 | 63 | £58,163 | £16,413 | £4,885 | £12,449 | — | £91,911 |
| 2025-26 | 31 | — | £15,471 | £6,493 | — | — | £21,963 |
A year in which Mr Douglas Alexander 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, 2015-16
The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.
Staffing
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £5,223 |
Office costs
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Const Office Rent | 1 | £579 |
| IT/Other Equipment Hire | 2 | £441 |
| Const Office Water | 1 | £139 |
| Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental | 1 | £135 |
| Other | 1 | £35 |
| Postage Purchase | 1 | £15 |
Travel
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aggregated Travel Costs | 1 | £534 |
Starting up and winding up
| Cost type | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll | 1 | £46,645 |
| Office Rent | 2 | £1,365 |
| Travel Costs | 7 | £1,215 |
| Office Postage/Stationery/Tel | 10 | £853 |
| Office Removals | 5 | £548 |
| Office Shredding/Removing Data | 3 | £183 |
Largest claims, 2015-16
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 2016 | Winding Up | Payroll | Total payroll costs from the Winding Up budget for the 2015-16 year | £46,645 | £46,645 |
| 31 March 2016 | Staffing | Payroll | Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year | £5,223 | £5,223 |
| 3 June 2015 | Winding Up | Office Rent | post election office costs1 | £785 | £785 |
| 1 May 2015 | Winding Up | Office Rent | — | £579 | £579 |
| 1 April 2015 | Office Costs | Const Office Rent | — | £579 | £579 |
| 31 March 2016 | Travel | Aggregated Travel Costs | Aggregated figure for travel during 2015-16 | £534 | £534 |
| 24 June 2015 | Winding Up | Office Removals | Winding Up 3 - June 2015 | £419 | £419 |
| 24 June 2015 | Winding Up | Office Postage/Stationery/Tel | Winding Up 3 - June 2015 | £390 | £390 |
| 12 May 2015 | Winding Up | Travel Costs | Travel London to Constituency1 | £373 | £373 |
| 30 June 2015 | Winding Up | Travel Costs | Winding up 6 | £370 | £370 |
| 2 April 2015 | Office Costs | IT/Other Equipment Hire | Office Costs March-April 2015 | £297 | £297 |
| 30 June 2015 | Winding Up | Travel Costs | Winding up 5 DA travel | £196 | £196 |
| 20 May 2015 | Winding Up | Office Electricity | post election office costs1 | £180 | £180 |
| 8 May 2015 | Winding Up | Travel Costs | Wind up expenses 1 | £177 | £177 |
| 13 May 2015 | Winding Up | Office Equipment Hire | post election office costs1 | £144 | £144 |
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 Mr Douglas Alexander 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 · Mr Douglas Alexander’s register of interests and votes · Sources