Spending on MSPs jumps by nearly £1m in 12 months

THE amount of spending on Scotland’s MSPs has jumped by almost £1 million over the past year, official figures today showed.

The total costs to fund Holyrood politicians, including their expenses and staff costs was £12.32 million in 2011/12, a jump of £986,000 on the previous year.

But today’s figures include £1.5 million of winding up costs for 48 MSPs who quit Parliament or were voted out in the May 2011 Scottish elections.

The Scottish Parliament says that without these “winding up” expenses, the amount claimed by MSPS in 2011/12 was £11.3 million, representing a fall of £0.5 million.

The allowance for individual party leaders increased by almost £1500 to £39,829, the figures show.

Total security related and disability provision for 2011/12 almost trebled to £16,667, while spending on stationary and postage jumped by £15,000 to £471,000.