Baroness Hayman Letter

Rt Hon the Baroness Hayman House of Lords London SW1A 0PW

7th September, 2009

Dear Baroness Hayman, Regarding Your Claims £200,000 over the past 8 years

It seems inappropriate to us that the £200,000 that you have received in allowances over the past eight years by designating your home in Norfolk as your main address as your main home as well as having a home in London and the £108,000 a year salary you receive as the Lord speaker does not fit with your role of reforming the House of Lords expenses system. Earlier this summer, the House Committee, which is chaired by yourself, requested that the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) conduct a review of financial support for peers. The SSRB has already identified as an area of concern peers’ nomination of homes outside London as their main address. You were quoted in the Times in an email you had written saying that you had been “a long-standing advocate of a root-and-branch external review of the financial support systems available for members of the House of Lords”. Could you explain to us how you justified claiming to the House Authorities that you had a home in Norfolk over the past eight years. If not, when do you propose to repay the £200,000 that you have falsely claimed from taxpayers on the basis of the misrepresentation of your actual circumstances? If we do not receive a satisfactory reply from you it is our intention to pursue this matter with the House authorities. Thank you for your time and cooperation in advance and we would appreciate an acknowledgement of this letter by email or telephone. Yours sincerely,

Christopher Galley Centre for Open Politics [email protected]