Civometry

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, 2023-24

291 claims, £287,554 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

CategoryWhat it coversClaimsPaidShare
StaffingThe 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.3£192,91567.1%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.217£24,8958.7%
AccommodationThe 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.37£21,9437.6%
TravelJourneys 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.34£47,80116.6%

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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2019-2031£13,921£2,728£1,575£11,352—£29,576
2020-21103£121,969£28,592£17,610£7,807—£175,978
2021-22223£167,421£23,762£24,096£30,920—£246,199
2022-23330£187,730£30,083£23,751£54,031—£295,595
2023-24291£192,915£24,895£21,943£47,801—£287,554
2024-25289£235,603£21,860£20,188£44,744£538£322,933
2025-26108—£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, 2023-24

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£180,608
Pooled staffing services1£11,894
Training - staff1£414

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Utilities17£6,924
Rent4£5,500
Advertising and contact cards6£2,305
Cleaning services35£2,157
Mobile telephone - contract & usage25£1,458
Software & applications17£1,264

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent11£18,417
Hotel - London10£2,435
Council tax6£824
Utilities10£267

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Air travel4£29,794
Mileage - car7£5,787
Hotel - London1£5,012
Parking5£2,692
Rail6£1,972
Subsistence2£869

Largest claims, 2023-24

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.

DateCategoryCost typeDescriptionClaimedPaid
31 March 2024StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2023-24 year£180,608£180,608
31 March 2024MP TravelAir travelAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£19,774£19,774
25 April 2023StaffingPooled staffing servicesScottish National Party Research Team (SNP)£11,894£11,894
31 March 2024Staff TravelAir travelAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£8,232£8,232
31 March 2024Staff TravelHotel - LondonAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£5,012£5,012
31 March 2024MP TravelParkingAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£2,144£2,144
31 March 2024MP TravelMileage - carAggregated figure for travel during 2023-24£2,063£2,063
14 April 2023Office CostsUtilitiesElectricity£1,959£1,959
30 January 2024AccommodationRent—£1,842£1,842
28 December 2023AccommodationRent—£1,842£1,842
28 November 2023AccommodationRent—£1,842£1,842
31 October 2023AccommodationRent—£1,842£1,842
28 September 2023AccommodationRent—£1,842£1,842
29 August 2023AccommodationRent—£1,842£1,842
1 August 2023AccommodationRent—£1,842£1,842

Claims refused and money repaid, 2023-24

4 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £514 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