15. LETTER
TO
THE
COMMISSIONER
OF
THE
METROPOLITAN
POLICE
SERVICE
FROM
THE
COMMISSIONER,
22 APRIL
2009
I am writing to seek your help in enquiries I am
making into a complaint against Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP in respect
of the identification of her London residence as her main home
for the purposes of claims she has made against the House of Commons
Additional Costs Allowance.
In essence, the complaint I am investigating is that
Ms Smith's London residence is not her main home as defined by
the rules of the House and that she should not, therefore, have
so designated it for the purposes of her claims against the Additional
Costs Allowance.
A central feature in defining a Member's main home
for the purposes of the rules for the allowance which applied
at the time is that a Member's main home, if they have more than
one home, will normally be the one where they spend more nights
than any other.
I need, therefore, to identify as accurately and
reliably as I can the number of nights which Ms Smith has spent
at her London residence compared to the number of nights she has
spent at her Redditch residence, recognizing that some nights
of the year she will have spent at neither residence.
Exceptionally, senior officials have made available
to me Ms Smith's official diaries. I have carefully checked with
Ms Smith both these and her personal diaries. Together, these
have given me a reasonable estimate of the number of nights Ms
Smith has spent at each location in recent financial years. But
if the police service had records which allowed you to identify
with confidence the number of nights Ms Smith has spent in her
London residence, and the number of nights she has spent in her
Redditch residence between 28 June 2007 when she became Home Secretary
and 31 March 2008, and also between 1 April 2008 and 31 March
2009, that could be most helpful in establishing the full pattern
of Ms Smith's overnight stays during that period. I do not need
to know the number of nights spent elsewhere as these are not
central to the calculation.
Ms Smith has emphasised to me that accuracy in these
matters is of paramount importance to her. These figures would
only be of value to me if they could be produced with a high degree
of assurance as to their accuracy, and if they could be produced
within a reasonable timescale. I would not want to incur a disproportionate
use of police resources.
I have consulted Ms Smith to seek her agreement to
approaching you for this information. She has consulted senior
officials. They have noted that they do not normally even confirm
or deny whether individuals receive protection and certainly never
reveal any details about the nature of that protection. They note
it would be a highly unusual step to reveal any information relating
to personal protection. They advise that senior politicians who
accept protection as a necessary consequence of the job they do
might look at it in a completely different way if in the future
they thought that protection could be used to provide personal
information to a third party. Senior officials therefore advised
that they would much prefer it if police records were used only
as a last resort. Ms Smith has said it is for me to judge whether
to approach the Metropolitan Police Service and through you the
West Mercia Constabulary with this request.
Given the central importance of this issue and against
the possibility that the police may have wholly reliable information
about Ms Smith's overnight stays, I have concluded that I should
put this request to you so that I can, if possible, have as accurate
a picture as possible of Ms Smith's overnight stays. I have informed
Ms Smith that I am doing so.
I appreciate that some of this information may be
held by another police force and, if that is so, I would be grateful
if you could liaise with them as necessary.
I enclose a note which sets out the procedure I follow
in seeking evidence from witnesses. As you will see, this request
is classified personal and confidential and my request and your
reply is subject to Parliamentary privilege. It should not be
disclosed more widely. I would expect, however, to show your response
to Ms Smith, and to include it, with any necessary redactions,
in any memorandum I prepare for the House of Commons Committee
on Standards and Privileges, who would normally expect to publish
it with any report they produce.
I would very much welcome your help on this matter.
If you consider that it will not be possible to produce figures
to a sufficient degree of accuracy or within a reasonable timescale
or at a manageable cost, I would appreciate early notification
of this.
22 April 2009
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