Details are emerging of MPs engaging in lucrative - and in some cases unusual - work outside Parliament.

As the deadline looms for them to declare more details of their "second jobs", newspaper reports claim members are making extra cash doing everything from advising drinks firms to crofting.

Shadow transport minister Robert Goodwill apparently runs an eco-cemetery at his farm and occasionally digs graves, although his business is expected to make a loss this year.

Others are faring rather better financially including former housing minister Nick Raynsford, who reportedly receives £148,000 from six private sector posts - most of them connected to housing.

Ex-health secretary Alan Milburn, who announced on Saturday he is stepping down as an MP at the next General Election, earns at least £115,000 a year from five firms including Lloyds Pharmacy and PepsiCo.

Under current rules, MPs must name all outside employers and directorships in the Register of Members' Interests.

From Wednesday, however, they will have to declare how long they spend on the work, and give an indication of how much they are paid - even if the job does not relate to their work as an MP.

Lib Dem John Hemming earns more than £200,000 a year as chairman and founder of computer software firm John Hemming & Company LLP, but he denies it conflicts with his work as an MP.

He said: "For me the measures of success are what I achieve for my constituency, for Birmingham and more widely."

More than half of the MPs with outside interests are Conservatives, but many have already announced they are giving them up ahead of the changes.

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague, who last year earned around £230,000 from after-dinner speeches, advice to private companies and writing books, is stepping down from several posts by the autumn.

Other Tories giving up "second jobs" include policy chief Oliver Letwin, who earns a £60,000 salary for eight hours a week at investment bank NM Rothschild.

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