MPs’ business costs

David Davis

IPSA paid £2,713,984 against 2,747 published rows for David Davis between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Haltemprice and Howden CC, then Goole and Pocklington 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, 2019-20

167 claims, £182,176 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.1£134,78874.0%
Office costsRenting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.136£14,6188.0%
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.17£23,05812.7%
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.13£9,7125.3%

Every year in the register

David Davis’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.

YearClaimsStaffingOffice costsAccommodationTravelMiscellaneousTotal
2010-11131£88,854£5,894£12,121£4,335£111,204
2011-12128£110,888£13,576£18,768£5,736£148,967
2012-13145£121,656£19,312£18,891£5,705£165,563
2013-14149£136,653£16,733£19,042£6,018£178,447
2014-15140£137,659£11,426£19,126£5,946£174,157
2015-16156£130,860£10,889£18,862£6,165£166,776
2016-17117£113,351£8,088£19,077£7,055£147,571
2017-18112£98,444£5,737£18,691£4,320£127,192
2018-19146£105,072£22,091£19,065£7,850£154,078
2019-20167£134,788£14,618£23,058£9,712£182,176
2020-21213£129,453£22,449£23,010£4,440£179,352
2021-22213£147,628£19,134£23,290£5,876£195,928
2022-23254£205,837£23,390£25,080£6,091£260,398
2023-24246£173,208£26,356£24,602£5,259£229,425
2024-25324£212,267£31,128£29,290£5,587£581£278,853
2025-26106£13,025£871£13,896

A year in which David Davis 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, 2019-20

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

Staffing

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Payroll1£134,788

Office costs

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Stationery & printing32£4,077
Pooled staffing services1£3,133
Newspapers, journals, magazines51£2,269
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage16£1,764
Software & applications3£1,198
Mobile telephone - contract & usage22£1,137

Accommodation

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rent12£22,566
Council tax3£277
Utilities1£152
Landline phone & internet - rental & usage1£63

Travel

Cost typeClaimsPaid
Rail4£7,226
Air travel2£1,342
Mileage - car1£342
Taxi2£295
Parking1£261
Railcard1£122

Largest claims, 2019-20

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 2020StaffingPayrollTotal Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year£134,788£134,788
31 March 2020MP TravelRailAggregated figure for travel during 2019-20£6,191£6,191
15 May 2019Office CostsPooled staffing servicesPolicy Research Unit (Conservative)£3,133£3,133
24 March 2020AccommodationRentLondon Flat Rent March 2020£2,024£2,024
24 February 2020AccommodationRentLondon Flat Rent February 2020£2,024£2,024
24 January 2020AccommodationRentLondon Flat Rent January 2020£2,024£2,024
24 December 2019AccommodationRentLondon Flat Rent December 2019£2,024£2,024
24 November 2019AccommodationRentLondon Flat Rent November 2019£2,024£2,024
24 October 2019AccommodationRentLondon Flat Rent October 2019£2,024£2,024
24 September 2019AccommodationRentLondon Flat Rent September 2019£2,024£2,024
24 August 2019AccommodationRentLondon Flat Rent August 2019£2,024£2,024
24 July 2019AccommodationRentLondon Flat Rent July 2019£2,024£2,024
5 July 2019AccommodationRentLondon Flat Rent June 2019£1,450£1,450
24 May 2019AccommodationRentLondon Flat Rent May 2019£1,450£1,450
24 April 2019AccommodationRentLondon Flat Rent April 2019£1,450£1,450

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 David Davis 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 · David Davis’s register of interests and votes · Sources