55. Letter to Rt Hon Andrew Mackay
from the Commissioner, 8 September 2010
Thank you for your two e-mails of 13 August responding
to my letters to you of 3 and 12 August.
I was grateful for these responses. As you will know
from the e-mail from my office of 20 August, I asked that parts
of each of your e-mails should be copied respectively to the former
Head of the Fees Office and to the Department of Resources.
I have now heard back both from the former Head of
the Fees Office and from the Department of Resources.
I enclose a copy of my letter to the Department of
Resources of 12 August, my office's letter to the Department of
20 August, and their response of 24 August. I enclose also a copy
of my letter of 2 September to the Department clarifying one point
in their evidence, and their response of 6 September.
As you will see, for the reasons he gives, the Director
of Strategic Projects has concluded that the evidence from the
then Head of the Fees Office has not caused him to change his
original conclusions that it was reasonable for you to have inferred
that the Department had no difficulty with your arrangements.
You will see, too, from the responses of the Department
of Resources, that your statement is not fully accurate that from
"that year"
(by which I take it to mean 1997) and subsequently your second
homes were put on each claim form and that you and your wife would
each have signed claim forms designating your main and second
homes. It would appear that this became a requirement in 2003.
Before that, Members would have identified their second home on
their nomination form, but they were not required to give the
addresses of their main or second home on each of their regular
claim forms. So it seems that it would not have been immediately
apparent from the claim forms that you were making claims for
your second home on a property that was also your wife's main
home.
I attach also a copy of my office's letter of 20
August to the former Head of the Fees Office identifying the evidence
you gave me on 13 August and 6 July about your telephone conversation
with that official in May 2009. I enclose also a signed transcript
of that official's response of 29 August. And I enclose a copy
of my response to him of 2 September.
I would welcome any comments you may wish still to
make on the enclosed correspondence. Subject to that, I believe
that I have concluded this inquiry. As soon as I hear from you—which
I would hope might be within the next week—I will complete
work on the factual sections of the draft memorandum inasmuch
as they relate to the complaint against you (as you know the memorandum
is also covering the complaint against Ms Julie Kirkbride) and
will let you have a copy of the relevant sections so that you
can comment if necessary on their factual accuracy. I would then
add my conclusions to the memorandum and submit the full memorandum
to the Committee on Standards and Privileges. The Clerk to the
Committee would let you have a copy of the memorandum so that
you can comment, if necessary, on it in advance of it being considered
by the Committee.
I am most grateful for your help on this matter and
look forward to your response to this letter within the next week
so that I can conclude work on this inquiry.
8 September 2010
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