MPs’ business costs

David Mundell

IPSA paid £3,428,223 against 4,070 published rows for David Mundell between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale 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, 2017-18

195 claims, £203,606 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	£150,900	74.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	170	£21,347	10.5%
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.	22	£21,069	10.3%
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	£10,290	5.1%

Every year in the register

David Mundell’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	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	187	£81,783	£18,314	£16,372	£13,145	£807	£130,421
2011-12	232	£111,948	£21,551	£21,152	£22,168	—	£176,819
2012-13	219	£117,706	£21,739	£19,467	£20,049	—	£178,960
2013-14	209	£135,960	£22,684	£20,128	£21,618	£243	£200,633
2014-15	225	£136,054	£22,014	£19,659	£22,093	—	£199,820
2015-16	196	£138,096	£22,094	£20,357	£15,449	—	£195,995
2016-17	194	£139,422	£22,768	£20,166	£13,976	—	£196,333
2017-18	195	£150,900	£21,347	£21,069	£10,290	—	£203,606
2018-19	235	£153,326	£24,917	£21,304	£14,081	—	£213,628
2019-20	280	£166,424	£29,678	£19,252	£21,461	—	£236,816
2020-21	277	£193,675	£34,951	£19,857	£11,007	—	£259,491
2021-22	306	£190,858	£26,908	£21,286	£23,470	—	£262,522
2022-23	366	£212,880	£27,060	£21,967	£25,744	—	£287,652
2023-24	454	£234,136	£30,824	£27,860	£33,248	—	£326,067
2024-25	354	£245,353	£31,653	£28,193	£25,338	—	£330,536
2025-26	141	£491	£25,068	£3,365	—	—	£28,924

A year in which David Mundell 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, 2017-18

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

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£150,952
Budget Repayment (Staffing)	1	£-52

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	13	£6,723
Const Office Electricity	3	£2,819
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	19	£2,491
Advertising	17	£2,313
Stationery Purchase	25	£1,303
Venue Hire Surgery/Meeting	44	£1,229

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	13	£19,249
Council Tax	2	£1,033
Hotel London Area	1	£450
Gas	3	£208
Electricity	1	£101
Internet	2	£29

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	1	£10,290

Largest claims, 2017-18

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 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£150,952	£150,952
31 March 2018	Travel	Aggregated Travel Costs	Aggregated figure for travel during 2017-18	£10,290	£10,290
29 September 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,625	£1,625
29 August 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,625	£1,625
27 July 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,625	£1,625
27 June 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,625	£1,625
25 May 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,625	£1,625
25 April 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,625	£1,625
1 April 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,625	£1,625
23 February 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,500	£1,500
26 January 2018	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,500	£1,500
21 December 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,500	£1,500
24 November 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,500	£1,500
17 October 2017	Accommodation	Accommodation Rent	—	£1,500	£1,500
10 May 2017	Office Costs	Const Office Electricity	IPSA Card May 2017	£1,142	£1,142

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 Mundell 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 Mundell’s register of interests and votes · Sources