Amyas Morse, the Comptroller and Auditor General, has limited
the scope of his audit opinion on the regularity of expenditure in
the 2009-10 Resource Accounts that report the costs of the MPs'
Expenses Scheme. This is the first audit to be carried out
following a decision by the House to remove restrictions on the
scope of the C&AG's work, which means that he is now required
to look beyond an MP's signature in assessing the regularity of a
claim.
The qualification arises because the House authorities were
unable to provide evidence to support payments to MPs of £2.6
million, including £0.8 million that remains unsupported despite a
major exercise to obtain evidence retrospectively and £1.8 million
where evidence is not available for audit because the MPs are under
investigation by the police.
In addition, the evidence supporting £11.3 million of costs
reimbursed to Members was not sufficient for the C&AG to
confirm the expenditure had been incurred for Parliamentary
purposes. This is despite the evidence having been obtained in
accordance with the rules governing the MPs' Expenses Scheme.
15 December 2010