Malcolm Bruce, the president of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, was able to make the claims because his wife Rosemary works as his office manager and diary secretary from their main home on Deeside, north-east Scotland.
Normally MPs can only claim expenses for household bills at their second homes, and must pay their own way at their main residence.
However, because Mr Bruce told the Commons fees office that his wife was working from home, he was able to claim for his household bills in Scotland under the Incidental Expenditure Provision (IEP), which is intended to cover office costs.
Between April, 2006, and March, 2008, he was paid a total of nearly £3,100 towards the cost of electricity, heating and cleaning at his main home in the village of Torphins, just outside his constituency of Gordon. From 2005 to 2008, he received a total of £61,186 from the additional costs allowance (ACA) for his second home in London.
The Torphins claim was made despite Mr Bruce having a constituency office in Inverurie, about a 30-minute drive away, also funded by the taxpayer. The ACA claim included regular monthly spending of more than £300 on food, close to the maximum of £400. In one month, August, 2005, he successfully claimed £451 for food.
The public also funded more than £3,200-worth of repairs to the conservatory and guttering at the London flat, as well as work to “level the bath”. A complete rewiring of the flat was carried out after a lightbulb “exploded” at a cost of £8,757 without any other estimates being sought because of the “need to make the electrics safe urgently”, Mr Bruce wrote on his expenses form.
Mrs Bruce has worked for her husband since November, 1999, from their home in Torphins.
In May 2006, in a letter to the Commons’ department of finance and administration (DFA) about his wife’s work and the Torphins house, Mr Bruce wrote: “Apart from the initial set up costs and the telephone bills (for a new line for work purposes only), I have never made a claim to the IEP for the costs of her working from home. Previously I have been given an allowance on my tax return for this purpose.
“My accountant has suggested that it would be better to claim back the costs directly from the IEP. Please find detailed below the amount of electricity and oil used – as one sixth of the total annual bill and the cleaning bill, which amounts to one eighth of the total bill.
“Claim for the costs of my wife working from home for the financial year 2005-2006: heating (oil) £350, electricity £400, cleaning £450. I would be grateful if the £1,200 could be paid directly into my bank account.”
Further claims in relation to Mrs Bruce working from home – as manager of all her husband’s staff and offices – were made for £1,012 in 2006/07 and £886 in 2007/08.
Yesterday Mr Bruce said: “I have no regrets...Claims for electricity, heating and cleaning are the reimbursements of costs actually and necessarily incurred because my wife works from home. The benefits of my wife working from home are flexibility, time efficiency and lower costs. We have a young family and home-working enables my wife to deliver them to school when I am away in London and be at her desk earlier than if she commuted to Inverurie, which is 22 miles away.”
He refused to disclose Mrs Bruce’s salary, citing data protection legislation. Mr Bruce said work on the bath in the London flat was “entirely necessary” as a leak was “causing the floor to lift and seeping into the next door property”.
Repairs to the conservatory – “an old aluminium structure” – and guttering were justified as water had been leaking into their flat and a neighbour’s. The rewiring work had been carried out quickly “to avoid the risk of fire or potentially fatal electric shocks”.
“I have borrowed money from my bank to provide a second home and claimed the part costs of this as provided for by Parliament wholly exclusively and necessarily for that purpose,” Mr Bruce said.
“When I was first elected, the office costs allowance was sufficient for only one member of staff and incidental expenses. My constituency office and part-time secretary were subsidised by myself and my local party.
“I am only claiming the costs I now incur for which the IEP and ACA were properly provided.”
No comments:
Post a Comment