MP expenses put in spotlight again

MP expenses were under the microscope again today as fresh details of their second home allowance claims were released by the House of Commons authorities.

See the full MPs expenses list - click here

Taxpayer-funded claims for accommodation, office running costs, staff and communications for July to December 2009 were made public.

A new and revised expenses system was laid bare - giving taxpayers greater access to details of their MPs' claims than before including a full and broad headline figure covering second home, office, non-payroll staff and communications.

Most West Midlands MPs escaped any big controversy as figures gave a headline figure for total amounts claimed.

West Bromwich East MP Tom Watson claimed £21,128.47; Adrian Bailey, MP for West Bromwich West, submitted claims totalling £10,668.61 and Warley MP John Spellar's expenses totalled £5,581.48.

More than £10 million expenses was claimed in the final six months of 2009.

Today's figures are for the second and third quarters. Most receipts would have been submitted after the expenses scandal broke in May last year and are unlikely to contain any scandalous or unreasonable claims.

Nonetheless, more than 420 MPs who were returned to Parliament at the recent General Election were braced for fresh embarrassment.

The switch to a so-called "searchable database" follows a public outcry this time last year when the Commons officials finally buckled under pressure to release the details of MPs' claims in the wake of the expenses scandal - but with key details blacked out.

Hundreds of thousands of forms and receipts for claims for 2008/09 were published on the internet. But the papers were blacked out to cover up sensitive information like account numbers, addresses and signatures.

The outrage triggered another leap towards greater transparency months later in December last year.

While there was still a lot of black ink on the papers, they were not as heavily ''redacted'' as those released earlier the same year in swathes of black ink.

Your MP's expenses:

Ian Austin, Labour - Dudley North: £26,792.32

Adrian Bailey, Labour - West Bromwich West: £10,668.61

Pat McFadden, Labour - Wolverhampton South East: £17,403.43

Sir Patrick Cormack, Conservatives - South Staffs: £18,190.67

Bruce George, Labour - Walsall South: £11,452.01

Sylvia Heal, Labour - Halesowen and Rowley Regis: £7,727.93

Rob Marris, Labour - Wolverhampton South West: £12,816.64

Ian Pearson: Labour - Dudley South: £17,916.77

Ken Purchase, Labour - Wolverhampton North East: £24,420.04

Richard Shepherd, Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills: £5,135.76

John Spellar, Labour - Warley: £5,581.48

Dr Richard Taylor, Independent - Wyre Forest: £13,038.15

Lynda Waltho, Labour - Stourbridge: £34,288.55

Tom Watson, Labour - West Bromwich East: £21,128.47

David Winnick, Labour - Walsall North: £12,721.21.

By London reporter Sunita Patel