Bourn again

[ABH]

Using the excellent What Do They Know website a Mark Price submitted an FOI request about Jerry White's expenses.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e ... o_jerry_wh

The LGO response can be read here.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/2 ... e.doc.html

As can my comments. Proving again what SHC has already brought to our attention, that the LGO's expenses dropped like a brick after the Bourn incident. I wonder if any of them managed to get their moats cleaned before the gravy train hit the buffers?

[ABH]

Bourn was also a visiting prof like White.

[shc]

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/allowances

interesting how the figures can be made available... and are accessible.. (two years worth for all the LGO's at above link).

at the not too bad WDTK site :-)

[Ann]

I wonder why no one has picked up this issue and investigated the LGO's expenses like they did with the MPs. The dramatic drop in White's expenses looks suspicious if nothing else, particularly when you take timing into account.

[shadow]

just had a look at your figures Stuart and find that Redmond's expenses dropped even more than White's. Do you think it's worth putting something on the website?

Patrick (Temporary web-master whilst Thomas is in Australia)

[shc]

I had a look at the other bodies similar to LGO (i.e. those identified by Liaison committee as needing some scrutiny) following Bourn.. This is what led to pre-appointment scrutiny.. and they all went down quite a lot post-Bourn.. it is something that you would have thought the press would pick up on..

Might be a good idea on web.. particularly if linked back to CIPFA.. Bourn was also involved with an accountancy body..

[ABH]

Don't know who Mark Price is but ...

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e ... oing-40559

Thank you for your response. It raises a number of questions.

In the nine years up to and including 02/03 Mr White claimed £1293
for hotels and subsistence. This averages at £144 per year. Yet in
just one year (06/07) he claimed £6,508 for hotels and subsistence!
That is forty five years worth in one year! What is the explanation
for that, please?

In the nine years up to 02/03 Mr White claimed £14,578 for "other
travel". Yet, subsequently, in just one year (06/07) he claimed
£16,799. What is the explanation for that, please? What did Mr
White's "other travel" consist of, and what was its purpose?

Assuming that the LGO works 219 days a year, in 06/07 he claimed
expenditure of £1.54 per day on mileage but nearly £77 PER DAY on
"other" travel and nearly £30 PER DAY on hotels/subsistence! Please
explain how he managed to achieve this, having noted that in 95/96
Mr White managed to carry out his duties while spending less than
£1 PER WEEK on hotels/subsistence/other travel combined!

By 06/07 Mr White's claim for other travel was 381 times what it
was in 95/96, and his combined hotels/subsistence/other travel
claim was 529 times more than it was in 95/96. Please explain the
mind-boggling escalation in these figures.

In 06/07 how much was claimed for subsistence?

Did Mr White provide receipts accounting for every penny of the
£23,646 he claimed from the taxpayer in 06/07

Yours sincerely,

mark price

[Ann]

A number of high-profile peers stopped claiming overnight allowances for attending the House of Lords after The Sunday Times began exposing colleagues who were abusing the expenses system.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/p ... 898175.ece

Similar reason why the LGO stopped abusing their expenses after Bourn was exposed. Fear of exposure reduces fraudulent behaviour. If the LGO used the same technique with council maladministration instead of burying it for them. like the speaker tried to do with MP's expenses, we might actually get somewhere.

[ABH]

Proof that Ombudsmen are not always whiter that White! Pun intended.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-l ... 71209.html

The speaker of the Newfoundland and Labrador legislature won't be asking police to investigate former ombudsman Fraser March, despite an independent report that used words such as deceitful to describe March's actions surrounding questionable travel claims.

March was fired from the job as citizen's representative by a vote of politicians in the house of assembly.

Mark Price is still after Jerry White's expenses.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e ... oing-40559