§ Sir Jim SpicerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what further information he has on the total cost of rebuilding and refurbishing Haymes Garth near Cheltenham, the official residence of the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, RAF Personnel and Training Command, Innsworth.
§ Mr. HanleyA detailed internal investigation of the recent refurbishment of Haymes Garth has been carried out. This has shown that the total cost of the restructuring and refurbishment programme is likely to be some £387,000 during the two financial years 1992–93 and 1993–94, not £260,000 as indicated in my previous answer of 29 March,Official Report, column 732. The exact figure will be dependent on the final settlement of some minor bills still outstanding. In addition, in 1993–94, some £9,000 was spent on routine maintenance. I very much regret that the figure given to the House in my earlier answer was incorrect; the full figures had not been reported to me at the time.
The circumstances in which the expenditure was authorised, incurred and notified have yet to be fully clarified. A high-level independent external investigation has been commissioned to look urgently into the apparent failure of the financial control system and to recommend appropriate action to ensure that there is no repeat.
We have also set in hand a separate audit of expeniditure on official service residences to ensure that in other instances financial control mechanisms have functioned as they should.
I intend to make a full report to the House on the conclusions of all this work, and any action found necessary, as soon as possible after the House returns in the autumn. At the same time, I will reort to the House on the wider question of official service residences.