52. LETTER
TO
RT
HON
JACQUI
SMITH
FROM
THE
COMMISSIONER,
25 JUNE
2009
Thank you very much for your letter of 22 June responding
to mine of 2 June about your claims for your Virgin Media package.
It was most helpful to have this. I am now considering
whether this is a matter which I should submit to the Committee
on Standards and Privileges with a memorandum. I will also be
considering whether this should be combined with a memorandum
about the separate complaint on the identification of your London
residence for the purposes of your claims against the Additional
Costs Allowance.
In this context, it would be helpful to have a common
understanding of the facts of this case. As I understand it:
- During 2008 you made eight
monthly claims for your Virgin Media package. In each of these
months you claimed for a package of advance charges plus additional
charges for what are described as 'event items', namely films.
- Your first claim was submitted in May 2008 and
included advance charges for April-May 2008. There was no comparable
package or claim before that.
- Each of your claims was supported by a summary
bill, except for the claim of 4 June 2008, which was accompanied
also by a detailed list of charges.
- The summary bill submitted with your claim of
4 June 2008 was resubmitted with your next two claims, and the
supporting documents subsequently requested by the Department
of Finance and Administration in November 2008 were not supplied
since you took this to be a request about future claims;
- You claimed a total of £553.20 for this
package over the eight months, of which you repaid £400 on
28 March 2009.
- Assuming that the advance charges were £46
a month, as in the invoice which accompanied your claim of 4 June
2008, it would seem that over the course of 8 months the total
cost of the event items was £185.20.
- The view of the Department of Resources (set
out in their letter of 27 May) is that on-demand films (which
comprise the event items claimed) are not eligible expenditure
against the Additional Costs Allowance.
It would be helpful to know:
- whether you agree with this
summary of the facts;
- how the mistaken inclusion of the event items
in the 8 months' claims occurred, including whether you checked
each month's claim before signing it and how far you checked the
supporting documents;
- whether you accept that, had you claimed only
for the package of advance charges, there would have been no variation
in your claims over the period and so there would not be the uncertainty
about whether you over- or under-claimed, as suggested in your
letter;
- whether you accept that your claims for event
charges which totalled £185.20 were in breach of the rules
of the House.
Any other points you would like to me to consider
at this stage would, of course, be very welcome. If you could
let me have a response to this within the next two weeks, I would
be very grateful. If you would like a word about any of this,
do let me know.
Thank you again for your help.
25 June 2009
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