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The newspapers reported the other day that Scots MPs are among the highest claimers - when it comes to MPs' expenses.
Here's an extract of what the Scotsman had to say the the subject during the week.
"Two of Scottish Labour MPs racked up some of the highest expenses claims at the House of Commons during the last year, after charging for huge travel and staffing bills.
Labour MPs Eric Joyce and Brian Donohoe were both in the top five highest claimers at Westminster during 2010-11 - a UK-wide list which included the disgraced former MP Eric Illsley, who was jailed for expenses fraud.
Mr Joyce was the third most expensive MP on the list, with claims of £149,714.21, which included £92,083.80 on staff, £15,345.39 on accommodation and £30,670.39 on travel and subsistence, but just £4,715.26 for his constituency office in Falkirk.
The Labour politician, who emerged as the UK's most expensive MP in 2007-8 after claiming £187,334 in allowances and expenses, told The Scotsman that his latest claims were higher because he had been paying for a member of staff to move "up and down" from Scotland to London to carry out key duties.
Mr Joyce, who was previously revealed to be the first MP to claim more than £1 million cumulatively in expenses, said that next year his claims would be lower because the member of staff was now permanently based in the UK capital.
Meanwhile, Central Ayrshire MP Brian Donohoe was the fifth highest claimer among the UK's 650 MPs during 2010-11, after he charged the taxpayer £147,073.19 - including £91,080.10 on staffing, £16,041.71 on accommodation and £21,395.12 on travel and subsistence.
Mr Donohoe, who also claimed £11,675.93 for his constituency office, would not discuss his expenses when asked by The Scotsman yesterday.
Details of the expenses claims showed that Labour's Gemma Doyle was the best value for Scottish taxpayers on expenses, with the West Dunbartonshire MP claiming £73,541.40."
Now you would expect Scottish MPs to incur higher travelling expenses than many of their colleagues - but that's about it - everything else should be more or less the same.
So why the big differences between one MP and another?
Which is really the job of IPSA (the independent parliamentary standards authority) to explain.
The other interesting feature to come out of the IPSA report is that around 137 MPs - are still employing someone they know personally in their office - often a family member or spouse.
A practice which of course is not allowed in many other countries - Germany for example.
Here's an extract of what the Scotsman had to say the the subject during the week.
"Two of Scottish Labour MPs racked up some of the highest expenses claims at the House of Commons during the last year, after charging for huge travel and staffing bills.
Labour MPs Eric Joyce and Brian Donohoe were both in the top five highest claimers at Westminster during 2010-11 - a UK-wide list which included the disgraced former MP Eric Illsley, who was jailed for expenses fraud.
Mr Joyce was the third most expensive MP on the list, with claims of £149,714.21, which included £92,083.80 on staff, £15,345.39 on accommodation and £30,670.39 on travel and subsistence, but just £4,715.26 for his constituency office in Falkirk.
The Labour politician, who emerged as the UK's most expensive MP in 2007-8 after claiming £187,334 in allowances and expenses, told The Scotsman that his latest claims were higher because he had been paying for a member of staff to move "up and down" from Scotland to London to carry out key duties.
Mr Joyce, who was previously revealed to be the first MP to claim more than £1 million cumulatively in expenses, said that next year his claims would be lower because the member of staff was now permanently based in the UK capital.
Meanwhile, Central Ayrshire MP Brian Donohoe was the fifth highest claimer among the UK's 650 MPs during 2010-11, after he charged the taxpayer £147,073.19 - including £91,080.10 on staffing, £16,041.71 on accommodation and £21,395.12 on travel and subsistence.
Mr Donohoe, who also claimed £11,675.93 for his constituency office, would not discuss his expenses when asked by The Scotsman yesterday.
Details of the expenses claims showed that Labour's Gemma Doyle was the best value for Scottish taxpayers on expenses, with the West Dunbartonshire MP claiming £73,541.40."
Now you would expect Scottish MPs to incur higher travelling expenses than many of their colleagues - but that's about it - everything else should be more or less the same.
So why the big differences between one MP and another?
Which is really the job of IPSA (the independent parliamentary standards authority) to explain.
The other interesting feature to come out of the IPSA report is that around 137 MPs - are still employing someone they know personally in their office - often a family member or spouse.
A practice which of course is not allowed in many other countries - Germany for example.
