MPs from region paid £1,300 in staff bonuses to office staff

Scunthorpe MP Nic Dakin spent a total of £800 on bonuses for four staff while East Yorkshire MP Greg Knight split £500 between two members of his team.

They were among 19 MPs across the country who handed out £13,163 in “reward and recognition” payments to 49 staff members last year.

The rules on MPs expenses give politicians discretion to distribute “reasonable” sums when employees have performed well – although family members are not eligible.

Tory backbencher Mark Pritchard gave one member of staff £750, while fellow Conservative Brooks Newmark shared £1,800 between three people.

Spending on rewards was up sharply on the previous year, when 57 staffers received a total of £8,104.

The spending was revealed in details of MPs expenses claims for the last financial year published by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority yesterday.

The documents showed 22 of the region’s parliamentarians employed members of their family as office managers, case workers or assistants. Salaries enjoyed by family members working for Yorkshire MPs last year ranged from £10,000 to just short of £40,000.

Across Parliament, some 155 MPs employed family members during 2012-13, with I’m A Celebrity... Star Nadine Dorries’ daughter Philippa among the highest earners on between £40,000 and £45,000 as office manager.

She is now believed to have left to train as a lawyer, but her sister Jennifer has been taken on as senior secretary with a salary of between £30,000 and £35,000.