1 Complaints rectified 2009-10 Mrs Ann Keen MP: Resolution Letter Letter to Mrs Adda Berkane from the Commissioner, 7 May 2009 I have now concluded my consideration of the complaint you sent me on 21 November about the use of Parliamentary stationery by Mrs Ann Keen MP in respect of three letters that she sent you. In essence, your complaint was that Mrs Keen had used pre‐paid House of Commons envelopes and perhaps House of Commons provided stationery to send unsolicited letters to groups of her constituents, contrary to the rules in respect of the use of such House stationery. I have consulted Mrs Keen and the House authorities about this matter. Mrs Keen has fully accepted that she should not have used pre‐paid House of Commons envelopes and stationery provided from her stationery allowance for these dispatches. This was because the stationery allowance cannot be used to send communications to constituents who have not previously contacted the Member, or, as in the case with the Heathrow letter, in response to a survey instituted by the Member. Mrs Keen has apologised that she unintentionally breached the rules. The errors were made because of a misunderstanding in her office. I understand that there were two other similar communications which were also dispatched in the same way. Mrs Keen has taken steps to ensure that these errors do not recur. Mrs Keen may, however, use Parliamentary funding for these communications. The funding should, however, have come from Mrs Keen’s Communications Allowance, which permits Members to communicate pro‐actively with their constituents to let them know what they have been doing and to consult them on issues of importance to them locally. Accordingly, Mrs Keen has made arrangements with the House authorities for the costs of the communications wrongly sent using provided stationery and prepaid envelopes to be transferred to her Communications Allowance1. I consider this a satisfactory resolution of your complaint. I therefore consider the matter to be closed. I shall report the outcome to the Committee on Standards and Privileges. Thank you for raising this with me. I am copying this letter to Mrs Ann Keen MP. 7 May 2009 1 £4583. 2 Complaints rectified 2009-10 Mrs Ann Keen MP: Written evidence 1. Letter to the Commissioner from Mrs Adda Berkane, 21 November 2008 I am writing concerning the use of Parliamentary Stationery by my M.P., Ann Keen, for Labour party constituency business. (I did speak to your office several weeks ago concerning what and what was not acceptable – and as far as it was possible over the phone, it was thoughts that this was probably unacceptable).. I have received 3 unsolicited letters, which if not going to the whole of her constituency, certainly must have gone to a large part, if not all, of Brentford. Although she does not actually mention the Labour Party in the letters, I would imagine this is probably a ploy in order to use the House of Commons paper and pre‐franked envelopes. She may not be breaking the “letter of the law” but she must certainly be breaking the “spirit of it”, in order to get round using her personal parliamentary expenses. I will enclose copies of the said letters and envelopes but they were as follows:‐ 1. 2/9/08 Re: Petition on future of Gunnersbury Park.2 2. 10/10/08 Re: Heathrow Airport.3 3. 21/10/08 Re: Invite to a tea and coffee morning!4 Interestingly, she refers to holding “regular surgeries”—she doesn’t say when these are and a couple (?) of years ago, publicity was given in the local press to the fact that she was no longer holding “surgeries”. If her constituents wished to see her they could come to the House of Commons! I have not seen this rescinded. Ann Keen has attracted a lot of bad coverage recently in the press, regarding her expenses—“Mrs Expenses” as she has been coined. These letters appear to be an effort to rebrand herself with her constituents before any coming election. However, she seems unable to help herself from using stationery which is provided at taxpayers’ expense for more personal and official correspondence. Apart from the postage costs the paper itself is of a very good quality and must be comparatively costly. [personal details] Ideally, I would like to see Mrs Keen asked to repay herself, for the cost of this stationery, i.e. reimburse the public purse. If she has managed to avoid wrongdoing by legal niceties, then perhaps a strong word on the spirit of the law would be in order. I know you are very busy and have a very difficult job, (if you do well they sack you!) but I would be grateful if you could look at this–and if possible try to discourage this lady from her profligate ways. Thanking you in anticipation of your trouble. 2 WE 2 3 WE 3 4 WE 4 3 Complaints rectified 2009-10 21 November 2008 2. Letter to Mrs Adda Berkane from Mrs Ann Keen MP, 2 September 2008 I am writing to you to seek your support for the future of Gunnersbury Park as one of London’s treasured green spaces. I am very concerned that the secretive Hounslow and Ealing joint council committee meetings, set up to decide the future of the park, are currently held in private and are not open to public scrutiny. I am also concerned that rumours are already circulating about the possibility of developing luxury homes on part of the park. While I must reiterate that proposals for housing development appear to be hearsay at the moment, I am working to clarify this and will keep you informed. In the meantime, I am running a petition to request that future meetings of the board are made public and that their minutes made available to all. I also want the two councils to oppose any plans for housing development on the site if and when they come forward. If you would like to take part, please send the attached form back to me at the following address: Ann Keen MP, Gunnersbury Petition, [address]. Alternatively, you can write to me at that address or here at the House of Commons or e‐mail me at [...]. Please note that I have sent one letter to each household. If your family members would also like to sign, they can either email me their support or send a signed photocopy of the slip to me. The more signatures we get, the stronger our hand. I look forward to hearing from you. ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Dear Ann Keen MP, We are extremely concerned about the secrecy surrounding the management and future of Gunnersbury Park. Please contact Hounslow Council on my behalf and ask them to make future meetings of the Gunnersbury Park Regeneration Board public and to oppose any plans to build luxury homes in the park. NAME TITLE ADDRESS TELEPHONE NUMBER E‐MAIL SIGNATURE 3. Letter to Constituents from Mrs Ann Keen MP, 10 October 2008 I am writing to give you a further update on the proposed expansion of Heathrow airport, and a third runway. The Department for Transport has recently published an Equalities Impact Assessment (EqIA) consultation document as part of its work to assess whether and how Heathrow airport could be developed over the next 20 years or more. The EqIA seeks views on how different equality groups may be differentially affected by the proposals set out in the initial consultation document Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport consultation by reason of their race, disability, age or level of income. Almost 70 000 individuals and organisations responded to the Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport consultation, further to the petition Alan Keen, Member of Parliament for Feltham & Heston, and I carried out and presented to the Department for Transport (DfT) in February. The outcomes of the EqIA will be used to supplement that consultation. The DfT is currently still working to analyse these responses and a decision on this is expected later this year. 4 Complaints rectified 2009-10 The EqIA consultation document can be found on the DfT’s website: www.dft.gov.uk/heathrowconsultation, along with foreign language translations. You may also request a copy of the EqIA by post by writing to: Airports Policy Division, Department for Transport, 1/26 Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR. Responses to the consultations should be sent to the Department by 9th November 2008. They can be emailed to [email protected] or posted to the above address. I do hope you will be able to take part in this part of the consultation period. 10 October 2008 4. Letter to Mrs Adda Berkane from Mrs Ann Keen MP, 21 October 2008 INVITATION TO A TEA AND COFFEE MORNING WITH YOUR MP AT HIVE ROOM, BRENTFORD FOOTBALL CLUB, BRAEMAR ROAD, BRENTFORD ON FRIDAY 24 OCTOBER 11:30AM — 12:30PM Public transport, health, housing, crime and safer streets — you name it and I’ve had people stop me and ask me to do something about it. I am interested to know what you think about these issues and anything else that is concerning you in Brentford. So, in response to the large number of calls and letters I have had from people in your area, I’ll be holding another tea and coffee morning near you. I want to make it easier for you to say “hello” and to tell me about things that might make life better for you or your neighbours, no matter how trivial it might seem.