INTRODUCTION
1. We have received a memorandum from the Parliamentary
Commissioner for Standards, reporting on the outcome of his investigations
into two complaints against the Rt hon Member for Redditch, Jacqui
Smith. The memorandum is appended to this Report.[1]
2. The first of the two complaints against Jacqui
Smith was made in February 2009 by Mrs Jessica Taplin, following
media reports that Ms Smith was spending fewer nights at her designated
main home in London than she was spending at her second, constituency
home.[2] The complaint
was that Ms Smith had wrongly designated her main home for the
purpose of claiming Additional Costs Allowance (ACA) in respect
of her second home.
3. A separate complaint was made by Mr Robert
Waterhouse in March 2009, again following media reports. This
complaint was that Ms Smith had claimed against her Additional
Costs Allowance for the cost of films viewed on cable television
at her second home.[3]
4. We supplied Ms Smith with a copy of the Commissioner's
memorandum on 15 September. In accordance with our usual practice,
we invited Ms Smith to send us her comments on the memorandum.
Ms Smith replied on 18 September. Her evidence is published as
Appendix 2 to this Report.
5. The Commissioner's memorandum, Ms Smith's
evidence and this Report cover both complaints.
1 Appendix 1 Back
2
Appendix 1, WE3 Back
3
Appendix 1, WE39 Back
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