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Jacqui Smith House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges Jacqui Smith Ninth Report of Session 2008–09 Report and Appendices, together with formal minutes Ordered by The House of Commons to be printed 12 October 2009 HC 974 Published on 12 October 2009 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 The Committee on Standards and Privileges The Committee on Standards and Privileges is appointed by the House of Commons to oversee the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards; to examine the arrangements proposed by the Commissioner for the compilation, maintenance and accessibility of the Register of Members’ Interests and any other registers of interest established by the House; to review from time to time the form and content of those registers; to consider any specific complaints made in relation to the registering or declaring of interests referred to it by the Commissioner; to consider any matter relating to the conduct of Members, including specific complaints in relation to alleged breaches in the Code of Conduct which have been drawn to the Committee’s attention by the Commissioner; and to recommend any modifications to the Code of Conduct as may from time to time appear to be necessary. Current membership Rt Hon Sir George Young Bt MP (Conservative, North West Hampshire) (Chairman) Rt Hon Kevin Barron MP (Labour, Rother Valley) Mr Andrew Dismore MP (Labour, Hendon) Nick Harvey MP (Liberal Democrat, North Devon) Rt Hon Greg Knight MP (Conservative, East Yorkshire) Mr Elfyn Llwyd MP (Plaid Cymru, Meirionnydd Nant Conwy) Mr Chris Mullin MP (Labour, Sunderland South) The Hon Nicholas Soames MP (Conservative, Mid Sussex) Mr Paddy Tipping MP (Labour, Sherwood) Dr Alan Whitehead MP (Labour, Southampton Test) Powers The constitution and powers of the Committee are set out in Standing Order No. 149. In particular, the Committee has power to order the attendance of any Member of Parliament before the committee and to require that specific documents or records in the possession of a Member relating to its inquiries, or to the inquiries of the Commissioner, be laid before the Committee. The Committee has power to refuse to allow its public proceedings to be broadcast. The Law Officers, if they are Members of Parliament, may attend and take part in the Committee’s proceedings, but may not vote. Publications The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at: www.parliament.uk/sandp. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Mr Steve Priestley (Clerk), Miss Rhiannon Hollis (Second Clerk) and Ms Jane Cooper (Committee Assistant). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to The Clerk of the Committee on Standards and Privileges, Journal Office, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6615. Jacqui Smith 1 Contents Report Page Jacqui Smith 3 Introduction 3 Ms Smith’s nomination of her main home 3 The Commissioner’s findings 4 Ms Smith’s evidence 6 Conclusions 7 Recommendation 10 Ms Smith’s claim for media services 11 The Commissioner’s findings 11 Ms Smith’s evidence 12 Conclusion 13 Appendix 1: Memorandum from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards 17 Appendix 2: Letter to the Clerk of the Committee from Jacqui Smith, 18 September 2009 106 Formal Minutes 110 Jacqui Smith 3 Jacqui Smith Introduction 1. We have received a memorandum from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, reporting on the outcome of his investigations into two complaints against the Rt hon Member for Redditch, Jacqui Smith. The memorandum is appended to this Report.1 2. The first of the two complaints against Jacqui Smith was made in February 2009 by Mrs Jessica Taplin, following media reports that Ms Smith was spending fewer nights at her designated main home in London than she was spending at her second, constituency home.2 The complaint was that Ms Smith had wrongly designated her main home for the purpose of claiming Additional Costs Allowance (ACA) in respect of her second home. 3. A separate complaint was made by Mr Robert Waterhouse in March 2009, again following media reports. This complaint was that Ms Smith had claimed against her Additional Costs Allowance for the cost of films viewed on cable television at her second home.3 4. We supplied Ms Smith with a copy of the Commissioner’s memorandum on 15 September. In accordance with our usual practice, we invited Ms Smith to send us her comments on the memorandum. Ms Smith replied on 18 September. Her evidence is published as Appendix 2 to this Report. 5. The Commissioner’s memorandum, Ms Smith’s evidence and this Report cover both complaints. Ms Smith’s nomination of her main home 6. During the period covered by the complaint from Mrs Taplin, the House’s rules stipulated that unless the identity of a Member’s main home was a matter of fact (because the Member had only one home in the United Kingdom), the main home would “normally be the one where you spend more nights than any other.”4 From 1971, a Member who was also a government Minister and who had more than one home in the United Kingdom was obliged to designate his or her London residence as the main home. This requirement was removed in February 2004, from when Ministers were subject to the same rules as other Members and were asked to make a fresh nomination of their main home.5 7. In nominating her main home from 2004 onwards, Ms Smith was therefore expected to have regard to the number of nights she spent in each of her two homes, one of which was in London, the other in her constituency of Redditch. Having designated her main home, Ms Smith, like other Members, was able to claim against Additional Costs Allowance 1 Appendix 1 2 Appendix 1, WE3 3 Appendix 1, WE39 4 Appendix 1, para 18 5 Appendix 1, WE6 Jacqui Smith 4 (ACA) for certain expenses relating to her use of her second home which were “wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred … for the purpose of performing Parliamentary duties.”6 8. As the Commissioner notes, the House put in place new rules relating to the designation of main homes with effect from April 2009.7 However, the complaint against Ms Smith relates to the period February 2004 to March 2009 and, like the Commissioner, we have considered this case against the rules and guidance in place at that time. The Commissioner’s findings 9. When first elected to the House in 1997, Ms Smith identified her constituency home as her main home.8 As a Minister in the Government from July 1999, Ms Smith was required to designate her London residence as her main home. When this requirement was removed in 2004, Ms Smith left in place the designation of her London home as her main home.9 She asked the House of Commons Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) in June 2007 to confirm that this was reasonable, given that her family was based in Redditch but that she spent the majority of her time in Westminster. The DFA agreed with Ms Smith’s assertion that it was reasonable for her to continue to claim the allowance against her constituency home given her ministerial responsibilities required her to spend the majority of her time in Westminster.10 10. The Commissioner has established that Ms Smith had two homes during the period in question. At different times, Ms Smith lived both in her family home in the constituency and in the house owned by her sister in London. Ms Smith was the guarantor of the mortgage of the London property, where she had sole use of a room and shared use of the remainder of the house. Ms Smith also paid her sister rent and contributed to household bills The Commissioner concludes that Ms Smith used her sister’s house as a home in the normal sense in which that term is understood. It was “more than some sort of temporary room in a stranger’s house.”11 11. The Commissioner notes that Ms Smith’s claims against the Additional Costs Allowance for her Redditch home were £22,110 in 2006-07; £22,948 in 2007-08 and £19,182 in 2008-09. Ms Smith claimed for mortgage interest, utility bills, council tax, telephone, servicing and maintenance, repairs and cleaning.12 12. On the evidence available, the Commissioner has concluded that Ms Smith spent more nights at her London home than at her constituency home between 11 May 2005 and 27 June 2007. He has also concluded that Ms Smith spent more nights at her constituency home than at her London home between 28 June 2007 and 31 March 2009. Ms Smith has 6 Appendix 1, para 14 7 Appendix 1, para 22 8 Appendix 1, para 141 9 Appendix 1, para 142 10 Appendix 1, para 144 and WE7, WE8 11 Appendix 1, para 162 12 Appendix 1, para 143 Jacqui Smith 5 agreed with this conclusion.13 The figures which underlie it are based on a reconciliation between witnesses’—including Ms Smith’s—personal recollections, the evidence provided by Ms Smith’s personal and ministerial diaries, and the evidence of police records (ie, records of the protection provided to Ms Smith by the police when she was Home Secretary).14 13. As noted above, the rules of the House at the time stated that “the location of a Member’s main home is normally a matter of fact.”15 The Commissioner and Ms Smith agree that she had a choice as to which of her homes to identify as her main home for the purposes of claiming ACA.16 It is clear, then, that the location of Ms Smith’s main home was not an objective “fact”.
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