37. Letter to the Commissioner from
the former Head of the Fees Office, 18 July 2010
Thank you for your letter of 14 July including comments
by Andrew Mackay on my evidence to you of 18 June.
My comments thereon are as follows:
a) Phone call of May 2009
My inference of Mr Mackay's call was that he sought
reassurance in 2009 of my advice to him of Sept 1997 and any authoritative
letter I may have retained since that date—a period of 11
years plus and hence "retrospective".
b) Reference
to the press reports of 2009
The implication here is that I could have changed
my views by being swayed by the criticism in the Press shows how
little he knows me. I have only ever given advice to MPs based
on the facts as presented to me, the authenticity of those facts
and how they were to be used in line with Resolutions of the House
and the rules for allowances appertaining at the time of any claim.
ACA was one of the easiest, clear-cut allowances to be administered
by the Fees Office during previous decades to the current one.
c) Residence
at [the
Bromsgrove property]
It appears that the critical date here is indeed
September 1997 which should, therefore, be the commencement date
of Andrew Mackay's claims for ACA expenditure incurred wholly,
exclusively and necessarily on the Westminster home (on overnight
stays away from the main home in Miss Kirkbride's constituency
of Bromsgrove). These would have been the first time Andrew Mackay
claimed for London expenditure having previously stated that his
main home was Westminster—a memorable date in my view.
This would also mean that from the same date Miss
Kirkbride should have claimed ACA for London as her main home
was in her constituency.
As stated in my earlier evidence I only spoke to
Miss Kirkbride on 2 June 1997—her induction interview—some
three months before [the Bromsgrove property] was ever mentioned.
As you can see from the above my earlier evidence
does not need to be changed except, perhaps, for the deletion
of the word "retrospectively".
In which case Andrew Mackay and I differ as to the
advice I provided in 1997. If you do need any more information
please do not hesitate to contact me.
18 July 2010
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