Letter to Chairman from Don Touhig MP
As you are aware, I am to appear before the
Public Administration Select Committee this Thursday 1 December.
I have been invited to provide evidence to the Committee with
regard to the Parliamentary Ombudsman's Report on the complaint
brought by Professor Hayward in respect of the Far East Prisoner
of War and Civilian Internee ExGratia Payment Scheme.
As I explained to you verbally earlier today,
while preparing evidence for the session, my officials have brought
to my attention certain matters previously unknown to me and which
may be central to the issue under scrutiny. I am of the view that
these matters are sufficiently important to require further investigation
but because of the substantial amount of documentation which will
need to be examined, this cannot be completed before the session
on Thursday.
As you will appreciate, I have considered this
matter very carefully. I believe it is right for me to seek clarification
on certain aspects of the Ex-Gratia Scheme and would ask for your
forbearance if during Thursday's session I am unable to answer
many of the questions put to me by the Committee. I know this
will greatly inconvenience Committee members and I sincerely apologise
for this. However, I hope you will understand that I would not
make such a request unless I felt there were compelling reasons
for doing so. This is an important issue for many people and I
believe it would be in everyone's interests if I could be allowed
more time to explore these findings further.
It is intended that officials will have completed
this work within the next two to three weeks after which I would
be in a position to report on the outcome to the Committee.
I do hope this will be acceptable to you.
29 November 2005
| 
