Things you may be too embarrassed to ask

Unlike most other professional jobs, an MP's salary is public knowledge, and so are the expenses, which many people think all goes into the MP's back pocket - or his family's! But in my experience most MPs (from all parties) are well intentioned people who believe in public service and are definitely not misusing their allowances. I think it is important to be as transparent as possible about the money you pay me and how it is spent.

Last year, I was paid a salary of £61,820. The House of Commons recently voted for a below-inflation 2.25% pay rise, which increased MPs' annual salary to £63,211. I supported this, and voted against a proposal to increase MPs' pay substantially more. There are no increments to the pay scale; every MP gets the same regardless of length of service.

In addition to their salaries, MPs are given budgets to run their offices. For each item I buy using these allowances I have to put in a claim which is then scrutinised by parliamentary civil servants. The allowances are exactly that - allowances available to an MP to serve their constituents as they see best.

The two biggest items are staffing and incidental expenses. Unlike comparable jobs*, I am directly responsible for paying the salaries and National Insurance of the staff who work for me, and for paying for all the costs of the constituency office they work in.

Every day there are emails, letters and telephone calls from constituents. They might be about an ongoing issue they have with a Government department (such as Tax Credits or the Child Support Agency), or from residents contacting me to lobby me about a particular Bill about to go through Parliament or on a policy issue that is important to them.

I aim to give everyone who gets in touch a proper reply, and to get problems fixed so I employ staff to assist in casework and other related matters. Approximately three quarters of my office budget is spent on staff - this is by far the biggest cost in running my office - but one that is essential considering the high volume of work this allows me to do on behalf of constituents.

In addition to two caseworkers, I also employ an office manager and an assistant, based in my constituency office in Romiley (all part time), and a Parliamentary researcher, based in Westminster. All my staff have standard House of Commons contracts of employment, and none are related to me.

The second largest payment is for the rent and running costs of my office in Romiley, including phones, rates, heating and light, as well as 'consumables' like printer ink and headed stationery.

I travel to and from London each week, normally by train, standard class, and have a single bedroom flat there to sleep in on week nights. I reclaim the cost of this from the Additional Costs Allowance' but I have never reached the ceiling of the allowance (£24,006 this year), and last year my bill was one of the lowest - 552nd out of 596 MPs making a claim. This does include the cost of keeping the flat in good condition - for instance last year claiming for new windows when the rest of the block was being refurbished.

It would cost tax-payers around twice as much if I were to stay in a hotel when in London.

As the table of my claims made in the past three years shows I keep my expenses as low as possible consistent with providing constituents with a good service.

Full details of the last three years' claims (including bills and receipts) are to be published by the House authorities this autumn, but in the meantime global figures for all MPs' expenses can be found in a similar format to those below on the independent web site theyworkforyou.com. For more general information about Parliamentary allowances, and the rules of claiming them you can visit

http://www.parliament.uk/site_information/allowances.cfm.

* according to the Senior Salaries Review Board the job of MP is comparable to that of a secondary school headteacher or a police chief superintendent, whose support staff and offices are of course paid for by their employers. Both are paid more than an MP.

Andrew Stunell budgets: maximum allowance and actual amount spent