MP Frank Roy’s expenses claims all above board

Feb 3 2010 by Michael Pringle, Wishaw Press

MOTHERWELL and Wishaw MP Frank Roy has been exonerated from over-claiming on expenses.

Reports named him among hundreds of Westminster politicians ordered to pay back money by the independent auditor in charge of reviewing House of Commons expenses claims, Sir Thomas Legg.

The Labour MP came under the spotlight for interest payments on his London property. However, on appeal, it was discovered he had under-claimed rather than over-claimed.

Mr Roy said he never had any doubt his claim was totally above board.

Last Thursday he received confirmation he had been completely cleared in a letter from Sir Paul Kennedy, who was responsible for overseeing the Additional Costs Allowance repayment appeal process.

Mr Roy explained: “I always round my expenses down rather than up to the nearest pound and it all adds up over the course of the year, so I actually under-claimed.”

The initial problem arose when the politician’s mortgage statement for one month during the year 2005-2006 was lost by the Commons’ fees office after submission of a claim.

When he approached his lender for a copy of his payment they were being taken over by another bank and the processing of his duplicate mortgage statement took three weeks rather than 10 days under normal circumstances.

By the time the MP received the new receipt it was too late for the investigation by Sir Thomas Legg.

However, Mr Roy never had any doubt his appeal would be upheld, and he told the Wishaw Press: “Sir Thomas Legg wrote to me back on October 16 last year and cleared me of any wrong-doing but I still had to re-submit the paperwork.

“The paperwork took three weeks to arrive and, unfortunately, by that time it was too late so my name appeared on the list.”

The MP is disappointed it took so long to sort out.

He continued: “When your name is included in anything like this then some people jump to conclusions and think there is wrong-doing.

“It’s a pity it couldn’t have been sorted out earlier.

“However, I’m delighted that Sir Paul Kennedy has come to this decision.”

The ACA Review by Sir Thomas Legg covered the period from 2004 to 2009 and identified over 147,000 cases, most of which on examination were found to be valid. Mortgage statements in respect of ACA payments were deemed the most important single piece of evidence.

Bank statements were ruled as insufficient for the purpose of claims.