CALDER Valley MP Craig Whittaker has opened his expenses file to fulfil his bid to be “open, honest and transparent”.

The MP for Brighouse and Elland says he spent around £152,510 over the last 12 months – which comes in £15,370 under his allocated budget.

Mr Whittaker said: “In 2009 when I campaigned as a candidate to become the MP for the Calder Valley, I signed a pledge that I would publish all of my expenses incurred whilst carrying out the job of being the representative of those in the Calder Valley.

“I do this because I want to be open, honest and transparent to the electorate.”

He says every claim, backed up by receipts, is scrutinised by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority so that no MP makes a personal gain.

The MP has published his expenses two months before every MP’s expenses are revealed and the details show:

Staffing – Budget £115,000 – Actual Spend £108,454.41.

The MP employs 3.13 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) staff on a permanent basis with a further 2.2 FTE on a temporary basis over the last year, to deal with backlogs and peak periods. .

Accommodation, rental and running costs – Budget £19,900 – Actual Spend £18,667. He is allowed up to £150 per night for hotel accommodation but spent zero and instead rents an apartment in east London.

MPs and staff travel costs – the cost of a standard class day ticket allowed and the MP’s staff made 96 journeys spending £4,480.27.

Grand Central Trains gave each MP whose constituencies their trains run a free travel pass for First Class travel. That pass expired on December 31 2011 and therefore a cost will be incurred, no details given as yet.

Constituency office rent and running costs – Allowance £21,500 – Actual Spend £16,050.92, including the Brighouse base and an extra £1,264.10 for surgery room hire at surgery venues across the Calder Valley. The figure includes printing and stationery, mobile phone hire and newspapers.

House of Commons Administration – Budget £7,000 – Actual Spend £4,857.49 – the budget is purely for postage and white printer paper.

In the last 12 months his office dealt with more than 26,000 emails, 7,800 letters and 2,700 telephone calls. They’re working on 2,000 constituents’ cases.

He’s welcomed seven students on work experience and visited 10 schools.