ANNEX H
Letter to the Parliamentary Commissioner
for Standards from the Rt Hon Dr Jack Cunningham MP
I refer to your letter of 27 July 1999 and my letter
of acknowledgement dated 28 July. I apologise for the length of
time taken to provide answers to your questions.
I have now had the opportunity to discuss the issues
you raised with the people responsible both for the Industry Forum
funding and the single contribution made by Greg Dyke to support
research in my office.
I had no access to the bank accounts or details of
individual contributions to the Industry Forum. The list of members
is not published. All financial transactions were handled by the
Forum Trustees. Research funding to my Office from the Forum was
decided by them. It was paid and administered independently of
me.
Greg Dyke made a single contribution to research
funding for my Office of £5,000.00. I was not aware of the
contribution until some considerable time afterwards. Apparently
Greg Dyke wrote a letter to a newspaper commenting on contributions
to research support for Labour. I did not receive a copy of that
letter and cannot recall the date. I have now confirmed with the
administrators of my Office Fund that the contribution was dated
3 May 1996.
I hope the above information satisfactorily answers
the questions you raised with me.
11 October 1999
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