No duck houses here, Preston's MP hasn't faced the spotlight over his expenses....yet

With the continuing saga over MP’s expenses I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the expenses claimed for in 2007/2008 by Mark Hendrick, MP for Preston.

Overall he claimed a total of £140,443. For what? Well, here’s how it breaks down:

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£16,226 went on a second home allowance, £19,528 on office expenses, £77,544 on staffing, £477 on central stationery, £360 on stationery and postage, £1,296 for IT, £9,469 for comms, £15,543 for travel.

Compared to other MPs then Mr Hendrick appears good value for money, he’s about just over half-way between the most expensive and the cheapest – 412th cheapest out of 646 MPs whose figures are available.

When ranking the table on each expense, Hendrick is nowhere near the top. Apart from for travel where he’s just outside the top 100 most expensive.

Now, in April 2007 a motion went through Parliament to attempt to make MP’s expenses exempt from Freedom of Information disclosure. This was defeated, but it wasn’t Mark Hendrick who was on the side of rejecting it. He wasn’t there, as his voting record reveals. But he does have an 81.2% attendance during this Parliament, which is above average for an MP.

I suppose the big question is, do the electorate feel he’s value for money? We shall see at the next general election – whenever that may be.

You can view MPs expenses on the BBC website, which includes a rankable table.