9. Letter to Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP
from the Commissioner, 18 October 2011
I would welcome your help on a complaint which I
have received from Mr John Mann MP about your use of parliamentary
resources.
I enclose a copy of letters of 10, 14 and 17 October
which I have received from Mr Mann in relation to the arrangements
for your accommodation in London in 2002-03 and about your use
of your parliamentary office.[87]
I enclose also a copy of my letter of 11 October to Mr Mann to
which his letters of 14 and 17 October respond.[88]
Finally, I enclose copies of your entries in relation to The Atlantic
Bridge in the Register of Members' Financial Interests from the
January 2000, 2004, 2005 and February 2010 printed editions of
the Register.[89]
I was most grateful for your letter of 12 October
with your initial response to Mr Mann's first letter. The purpose
of this letter is to set out the allegations and relevant rules
and to invite you to let me have some further information to help
me take forward this inquiry.
I have consulted the Committee on Standards and Privileges
about this matter and it has agreed that, exceptionally, I should
include in my inquiries into this complaint matters which go back
more than seven years.
In essence, the complaint is that, in 2002-03, your
claims for mortgage interest and other claims for your additional
accommodation in London met the living costs of someone other
than yourself; that you allowed that accommodation to be used
for business purposes by that other person; and that you allowed
your office on the parliamentary estate to be used for non-parliamentary
purposes from 2003 to 2009.
The relevant provisions in the Code of Conduct and
its associated rules would appear to be as follows:
- The Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament
in place from May 2002 replicated a similar provision to the 1996
Code and provided as follows:
"No improper use shall be made of any payment
or allowance made to Members for public purposes and the administrative
rules which apply to such payments and allowances must be strictly
observed."
- The Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament
in place in 2005 replaced that requirement with the following
in its paragraph 14:
"Members shall at all times ensure that their
use of expenses, allowances, facilities and services provided
from the public purse is strictly in accordance with the rules
laid down on these matters, and that they observe any limits placed
by the House on the use of such expenses, allowances, facilities
and services."
- The Green Book for April 2002 included the following
in the Speaker's introduction: "Members are reminded that
they are responsible for ensuring that the use of their allowances
is above reproach". The information on the Additional Costs
Allowance provided at the beginning of Section 3, in answer to
the question "What can I claim?" stated: "Only
those additional costs incurred in spending time away from home
either at Westminster or in the constituency." Paragraph
3.3.1 said additional costs included "any additional costs
necessarily incurred in staying overnight for performing Parliamentary
duties, excluding any expenses that have been incurred for purely
personal or political purposes."
- The Green Book for June 2003 stated in paragraph
3.5.1: "You are strongly advised to avoid subletting or renting
out any part of a property for which you claim the additional
costs allowance." It also provided in paragraph 3.12.1 that
expenditure which was not allowable under the Additional Costs
Allowance included "living costs for anyone other than yourself".
The Committee's Tenth Report of Session 2008-09 (...); their Fourth
Report of Session 2009-10 (...), their Eighth Report, of Session
2009-10 (...) and their Fifth Report of Session 2010-12 (...)
are relevant to the interpretation of this reference, which does
not appear in the previous editions of the Green Book.
- The House authorities have long provided Members
of Parliament with facilities, including offices on the parliamentary
estate, to assist with their parliamentary duties. In 2006-07
the then Commissioner stated in a memorandum to the Committee:
"I am advised by the Serjeant at Arms that no rules relating
to permitted uses of Members' offices have been promulgated. It
is, however, a fundamental principle underpinning the provision
of Parliamentary facilities, services, expenses and allowances
to Members that they are provided to enable Members to carry out
their responsibilities as Members of the House, that is they are
provided for Parliamentary rather than for party purposes."
The first reference to the use of facilities in the Members' Handbook
appeared in May 2010. This stated that: "facilities and services
are provided in order to assist Members in their parliamentary
work… They should not be used for party political campaigning
or private business activity."
In the light of this summary of the relevant rules,
I would welcome your comments on the complaint. In particular,
it would be helpful to know:
1. London accommodation
a. The month in 2002-03 in which you started
the arrangement under which Mr Adam Werritty stayed overnight
in your parliamentary funded London accommodation and, if possible,
a better idea of how many months he stayed there; the number of
nights a week on average he spent there during this period and
the number of nights on average you spent there; whether Mr Werritty
had other accommodation in which he lived at that time in either
London or elsewhere; whether he made any contribution to his living
costs, given that he paid you no rent; why the arrangement was
made and why it came to an end;
b. What claims you made against the Additional
Costs Allowance over the period when Mr Werritty was staying in
your London accommodation, both for mortgage interest and other
expenditure; and whether any of these claims took account of Mr
Werritty's use of the accommodation, and if so, how this was done.
2. Business use
c. What was the full address or addresses of
your London accommodation for which you claimed expenses under
the Additional Costs Allowance from 2002 to 2009 (when UK Health
Group Ltd was dissolved); why in 2002-03 Mr Werritty apparently
used the address of your London accommodation as his address as
Director in the Companies House annual return for this company;
whether he used the same address to register any shares he had
in the company at that time; when he changed his address as a
Director; why that address was different from his address as a
shareholder in the annual return sent to Companies House on 28
February 2008; whether you could confirm that the registered office
of the company for 2002 was [London address 1];[90]
and finally, whether Mr Werritty undertook any work in respect
of UK Health Group Ltd at your London accommodation when he was
staying there in 2002-03 or otherwise where he worked for the
company in those months.
3. Office accommodation
d. What use The Atlantic Bridge made of your
parliamentary office in Portcullis House when, as you say in your
letter of 12 October, it was being used as its "operational
address" from September 2003 to June 2009;
e. Why your parliamentary office was used by
The Atlantic Bridge over this period, and the reasons why the
arrangement came to an end in June 2009;
f. Taking account of the Charity Commission's
conclusions that "the activities of the Charity may lead
members of the public to call into question its independence from
party politics" (paragraph 37 of its regulatory case report
published on 26 July 2010) and its statement that the evidence
it identified "suggests that the activities of the Charity
are promoting a political policy which is closely associated with
the Conservative Party" (paragraph 30), why you consider
that the use of your offices by The Atlantic Bridge was for parliamentary
purposes and was not for party political purposes or campaigning;
g. Whether Mr Adam Werritty or any other person
working for The Atlantic Bridge was located in your offices in
Portcullis House (for example, with a desk) and otherwise what
use was made of your parliamentary facilities for the work of
The Atlantic Bridge.
Any other information or comment you would like to
provide or make to help me in the resolution of this inquiry would
be most welcome.
I enclose a note which sets out the procedure I follow.[91]
I am writing to the complainant to let him know that I have accepted
his complaint.[92]
In due course, the fact that I am undertaking this inquiry, and
the broad areas of the rules it covers, will be placed on my parliamentary
webpages.
I would be very grateful if you could let me have
a response to this letter within the next two weeks. If there
is any difficulty about this or you would like a word about any
aspect of this inquiry, do please contact me at the House.
I would be most grateful for your help on this matter.
18 October 2011
87 WE 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 Back
88
WE 2 Back
89
WE 10 Back
90
See WE 8 Back
91
Not included in the written evidence Back
92
Not included in the written evidence Back
| 
