49. Letter to the Director of Strategic
Projects, Department of Resources, from the Office of the Commissioner,
20 August 2010
The Commissioner wrote to you on 12 August to ask
for your advice on his inquiry into this complaint. With that
letter he enclosed an extract from the e-mail of 8 August from
the former Head of the Fees Office. Mr Mackay has since commented
on that e-mail. He has said in his e-mail of 13 August:
"...it is surprising that under [the
former Head of the Fees Office's] watch during the full first
year of our claims he raised no queries. I can only assume that
is because he had put a note on file, as he indicated in his May
2009 telephone conversation with me, which his staff worked from.
It is worth recalling that year and subsequently our second homes
were on each claim form and separately we would have signed a
form designating our main and second homes. This of course is
the transparency referred to by the Director of Strategic Projects."
The Commissioner has asked me to say that he would
welcome your comments on this. Specifically, he would be grateful
for your comments on when it became a requirement for Members
to indicate their second homes on each relevant claim form and
to sign a form designating their main and second homes. It would
be most helpful if you were able to incorporate your advice on
this in your response to the Commissioner's letter of 12 August.
Thank you again for your help.
20 August 2010
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