Legg report into MPs’ second home allowance payments:
published 4 February 2010
Sir Thomas Legg’s audit found that between 2004-2009 John Healey MP had been overpaid for mortgage costs on his London flat by £2,354.35.
“I never expected any question marks over my mortgage payments. Every claim exactly matched the monthly debits on the annual mortgage statements.
“But Sir Thomas Legg found what I and the Parliamentary auditors who check all the claims did not detect, that there was a small capital repayment each month within what I understood was an interest-only mortgage.
“The lender has now admitted the mortgage statements did not show this, and the overpayment was totally unintentional and inadvertent. I repaid the amount in full as soon as the problem was brought to my attention.”
Notes to editors:
1. Since April 2008 – more than a year before the expenses scandal broke – John has been publishing on his website a detailed breakdown of the expenses he’s claimed. He was the first Labour MP and Minister to do so.
2. John is a low claimer – in 2007/8 his second home allowances were ranked 423rd out of 620 MPs eligible for the allowance. In 2008/9 he claimed nearly £10,000 below the maximum allowed.
3. The rules have now rightly been changed and audit checks made much tighter. The ACA Review by Sir Thomas Legg is the latest important stage in sorting out the allowances system.