Annex 199A
Letter to Mr Jonathan Upton from the Parliamentary
Commissioner for Standards
Thank you for your letter of 6 September 2000. To
be clear, I am afraid I need to ask you for precise replies to
the following questions to enable me to be sure I am not misrepresenting
your replies.
Perhaps you would fax this letter back to me with
the correct boxes ticked.
1. Were you aware at any time during the Scottish
election campaign of any staff working on the campaign whose salaries
for that work were being supplemented in part by House of Commons
salaries?
2. Did Alex Rowley ever discuss with you, or
make you aware of, the deployment of staff on the campaign who
were funded under such an arrangement?
3. You say that the two posts (Chris Winslow
and Kevin Reid) "evolved from part-time to full-time positions".
Mr Winslow`s position was increased to 30 hours a week in November
1998 with a salary from the Labour Party of £12,000 per annum.
Mr Kevin Reid`s position was increased to full-time in October
1998 with a Labour Party salary of £18,132. You say in your
letter that both "posts evolved from part-time to full-time
positions". Is that correct?
4. If either post was not regarded as full-time,
please state the hours which constitute a full-time Labour Party
contract of employment.
5. Please explain why these two similar posts
carried such different salaries.
6. I have been informed today by Annmarie Whyte
of the timesheets which staff were required to complete in order
to receive the election period bonuses. She tells me that those
timesheets or the information from them were passed to your office.
Please would you send me copies of the timesheets completed by
Mr Kevin Reid, Mr Chris Winslow and Ms S Hilliard and any other
papers which refer to the hours worked by them during the campaign.
Thank you again.
6 September 2000
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