The Scottish Parliament paid out £23.5m in expenses to MSPs last year, representing a 5.5% increase from 2021/22.
Expenses data for the 2022/23 financial year was published on Thursday and covers staff and office costs for elected representatives.
The most recent total expenditure was £23,467,953, an increase of more than £1.2m from the previous year’s data.
That incudes expenses paid to individual MSPs, which rose by 5.4% to £23,439,733 in 2022/23.
Meanwhile, the party leaders’ allowance more than doubled from the previous year to £28,220, up from £11,510 in 2021/22.
The increase puts the party leaders’ allowance in line with previous years, including 2020/21 where the expense totalled £38,778 in 2020/21 and £36,873 in 2019/20.
Staff salaries made up the bulk of the expense, with £19.1mcovering staff employment in MSP parliamentary and local offices, accounting for 81.6% of the total cost.
The remainder covers the cost of running the offices, travel and support for party leaders who are not in government, according to the figures.
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