40. Letter to the Commissioner from
the Director of Strategic Projects, Department of Resources, 11
May 2010
Thank you for your letters of 3rd March[227]
to the former Director of Operations, and of 25th March to me.[228]
I outline first of all in chronological order the
designations of main and additional homes which Ms Dorries made,
and the relevant correspondence which we have on file.
We have on file two nomination forms (ACA1) both
signed on 30th June 2005. Both nominated [the first address in
Gloucestershire] as Ms Dorries' main home and a Westminster flat
[address in London] as her second home. On one form, an official
has marked "8 May
to 8 June" and on the other "June
until further notice". In fact, Ms
Dorries claimed for overnight stays in hotels in London from her
election until 8th June. (There were also two claims thereafter
for cancelled hotel charges.) Rent and related costs on the [Westminster]
property were then incurred, and were the subject of claims, from
June 2005 until December 2006.
It is not entirely clear when Ms Dorries moved out
of her Westminster property. The Department paid £9774.66
rent in respect of rental for the flat from 20th June 2006 until
19th December 2006. However, we received a final electricity bill
for £326, dated 22nd August 2006, which suggests that Ms
Dorries moved out of the property around this time. The Department
sought recovery of the cost of rental in letters to Ms Dorries
of 30th January and 1st February 2007. The amount sought (£4877.33)
was in respect of the last three months of 2006. This amount was
subsequently recalculated as £3731.19 to represent the cost
of rental up until the day before the first day on which she occupied
hotel accommodation (see below). An ACA payment to her in March
2007 was reduced to take account of this recalculated amount.
Ms Dorries referred to security issues in relation
to the Westminster flat in a letter to you of 11th November 2009.
We have no record of this being raised with the Department at
the time, but there was no reason why a Member needed to inform
the Department of the reasons for a change of address.
Ms Dorries started claiming for temporary accommodation
(in the Carlton Club and, initially, at [a hotel in central London])
on 11th October 2006. (The House returned after the summer adjournment
on 9th October). On her claim form of 19th October 2006, Ms Dorries
stated that her second home was now "hotels"
and the Department acknowledged this arrangement in a letter dated
26th October. A nomination form signed on 7th November 2006 identified
as her second home "?
hotel until new flat". Her main home
remained in [the first Gloucestershire address].
A new nomination form was submitted on 25th January
2007, changing the location of her second home to [constituency
address 1]. Her main home again remained [first Gloucestershire
address]. Ms Dorries submitted a claim on 25th January 2007 for
the first set of costs in respect of the [constituency address
1]. This claim (as well as the lease) shows that she occupied
the property from 1st February 2007.
In her letter to you of 14th November 2009, Ms Dorries
records that she occupied three different main homes in Stratford-upon-Avon
(from January 2007 until January 2008; from January 2008 to January
2009; and from January 2009 to December 2009 respectively). She
also tells you in her letter of 25th January 2007 that the Department
was fully aware of these rental properties; that she was advised
that [her first address in Gloucestershire] should remain her
main home until the legal situation in respect of her separation
from her husband had sorted itself out; and that she informed
the Department of changes of main home address in 2007 and 2008.
The Department did receive formal notification by
a form signed on 22nd October 2007 when Ms Dorries nominated her
main home as [Stratford-upon-Avon address 2]. A handwritten note
on the form stated that this was a temporary arrangement and in
an e-mail to the Department of the same day she said that she
was in the process of purchasing a property in [name of second
village in Gloucestershire]. In the e-mail she also asked for
correspondence to be sent to her constituency (ie second) home:
the form again identified [first constituency address] as the
second home.
We have no record of having received any formal notification
in respect either of [Stratford-upon-Avon address 1] or [Stratford-upon-Avon
address 3].
It is entirely possible that Ms Dorries was advised
soon after her separation from her husband that she did not need
to change the designation of her main home until the situation
had sorted itself out. This does mean that there may have been
a period up when [her first address in Gloucestershire] was her
formally designated main home but she was not, as a matter of
fact, living there. The Department always tried to show some flexibility
when Members encountered personal difficulties, especially when
(as in this case) the issue in question was the designation of
a main home, in respect of which no claim could be made under
ACA. However, this would have only been regarded as a strictly
temporary measure, and, as I explain later, the Department was
concerned to regularise matters by October 2007 at the latest.
I should add that it was entirely acceptable for
a main home to be rented, as I understand from Ms Dorries's letter
to you of January 25th that the Stratford-upon-Avon homes were.
On 29th December 2009, a further nomination form
was submitted, confirming that [second Gloucestershire address]
had become the main home. This same form also identified a new
additional home—[second constituency address]. Ms Dorries
asked that all written correspondence should be addressed to her
constituency home as her personal office was situated there.
One PAAE claim was submitted in respect of [second
constituency address] on 6th April 2010. This was in respect of
six months rental from 1st April to 30th September 2010. Rental
on the previous additional home [address] had been paid up until
31st March 2010.
The Department also has information about Ms Dorries's
travel claims. The information in respect of rail journeys should
be treated as less certain than that in respect of motor mileage:
we cannot say with absolute certainty what each journey was, but
we can deduce this information from the price of the journey,
the location of purchase and the rail company used.
Ms Dorries was entitled to claim for journeys between
Westminster and her constituency, between Westminster and her
main home, and between her main home and her constituency. Between
May 2005 and January 2007, Ms Dorries appears frequently to have
used her travel allowances for journeys between Westminster and
her main home, and between her main home and her constituency.
From April 2006 to February 2007, she made no claims for journeys
between Westminster and her constituency. No claim in respect
of a journey to her main home [either in the first village in
Gloucestershire or in Stratford-upon-Avon, or in the second village
in Gloucestershire] has been made since 7th February 2007. After
this date, all journeys claimed by Ms Dorries (by both rail and
car) appear to have been from Westminster to her constituency.
Ms Dorries indicated to the Department that she would drive to
Parliament and return to [her constituency address] during parliamentary
sittings.
I turn now to your specific questions. We have some
evidence in respect of Ms Dorries's communication with the Department.
We have on file a letter from her, dated 28th February 2007, in
which she stated that [her first address in Gloucestershire] would
continue to be her main residence and that she would "continue
to commute by train from [name
of station] to London, should I return to my main home during
mid week". In addition to this letter,
the Department has copies of e-mails and other notes from October
2007. From these it appears that the Department pressed Ms Dorries
to submit ACA1 forms on 16th, 22nd and 24th October 2007. Ms Dorries
was also told on 22nd October of the Department's concern that
mail sent to her main home was being returned marked "addressee
unknown". This resulted in the submission
of a new designation form that day. The file note records surprise
that the main home designation on the form was marked as "temporary".
A conversation from 25th October is recorded in which Ms Dorries
confirmed that the temporary main home was her former husband
and daughters' family home until a new property was finalised.
The activity in October 2007 seems to have been caused by a dispute
between Ms Dorries and the Department about the refund of a deposit
Ms Dorries had paid in respect of the [first constituency address],
as well as the return of a deposit in respect of the [Westminster]
property.
I have no reason to doubt that Ms Dorries had a number
of other conversations with departmental staff which have not
been recorded. There is, however, nothing on file to suggest that
any specific correspondence or discussion was entered into regarding
Ms Dorries's various designations, or that there was any doubt
about where the main and additional homes were located.
I should also record that Ms Dorries e-mailed the
Department on 18th October 2007 to express her concern that the
Department "appears
continually to misplace my forms".
As you know, the Department holds no records on,
and sought no information about, where Members spent their time.
Up until January 2007, Ms Dorries was claiming regularly for travel
to [her first Gloucestershire address], and we can therefore say
from the evidence which we have that there is corroboration that
this was her main home. From February 2007, we do not have travel
claims which would provide this corroboration. However she may
well have chosen not to claim for travel to her main home after
this date. The Department would not therefore have questioned
the main home designation because travel claims to it had ceased.
The information which Ms Dorries has given you about
her pattern of overnight stays (as set out in the table which
your office produced) gives me no reason to query her designations
of main and additional homes, except so far as the points made
in the next two paragraphs are concerned.
Ms Dorries's estimate that she spent only 31 nights
in London during 2005-06—a period when the House sat on
133 days—may seem surprising. Since 11 of these nights were
spent in hotels, then, if Ms Dorries' estimate is correct, there
could be a question about the value for money of the rental of
a flat for around £12,000 for 20 nights' usage. However,
Ms Dorries has pointed out in her letter to you of 25th January
that she had caring responsibilities which often led to her making
late journeys from Westminster to her main home. There are sometimes
extenuating circumstances which mean that second home accommodation
cannot be occupied for periods when the Member remains obliged
to continue rental or mortgage payments. This would apply to circumstances
in the Member's personal life (such as the chronic illness of
a close relative) which mean that it is not practical or opportune
to occupy the accommodation for a period.
I am also not entirely clear about the 112 nights
in London in 2006-07 identified in the table which you sent to
Ms Dorries and referred to your letter to her of 9th February
and her reply of lst March (in these, referred to as 111 nights).
I assume from her letter that these are the nights in respect
of which claims were made (ie those spent either at the [Westminster]
flat, or at hotels or the Carlton Club, or in the constituency
property after it had been acquired). If this is not the case,
then Ms Dorries would have been claiming for a constituency property
for two months (February and March 2007) without occupying it.
I offer no comment on the evidence which you have
received from third parties about Ms Dorries's patterns of residence.
I attach a spreadsheet which gives a summary of designations
of main and additional homes as well as a full breakdown of ACA/PAAE
costs; and a monthly summary of travel claims. We are not able
to break down the figures before March 2006 by month. Please note
my caveat about rail journeys above. Copies of the signed ACA1
nomination forms are available if you wish to see them.
Please let me know if I can help further.
11 May 2010
227 WE 39 Back
228
On 25 March I sent the Director a copy of my letter of the same
date to Ms Dorries (WE 38) together with extracts from Ms Dorries'
letter of 15 March (WE 32) and the evidence of neighbours 4 and
5 (WE 33 to 36). Back
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