§ 48. Mr. Buchanasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT the letter he has sent to members of education authorities which are continuing to issue free milk in schools.
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§ Mr. Gordon Campbell1 am circulating in the OFFICIAL REPORT the text of a letter which was sent on my behalf on 18th November to 25 members of Midlothian County Council, and described in my speech in the House of that date, together with the text of the letter to the County Clerk a copy of which accompanied it.
In addition, as Section 201 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1947, requires, interim reports by the appointed auditors were formally intimated to members of Dundee Corporation and the County Council of Ayr, with requests for observations within 14 days.
Following are the texts of the letters:
Sir,
I am directed by the Secretary of State to enclose for your information a copy of the letter he has addressed today to the Midlothian County Council Clerk, for the County Council, on the questions raised by the Auditor in his interim report of 30th September, 1971 on school milk.
I am Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
A. C. COWAN.
Sir,
INTERIM REPORT—LOCAL GOVERNMENT (SCOTLAND) ACT 1947
1. I am directed by the Secretary of State to refer to the interim report dated 30th September, 1971 submitted by the appointed auditor, Mr. H. Forbes Murphy, O.B.E.. C.A., on the accounts of the County Council for the year ending 15th May, 1972.
2. The Secretary of State has considered the question raised by Mr. Murphy's report in the light of the statement in writing submitted by the County Council on 15th October, 1971, and the statements made by others affected by the report in response to the enquiries he was required by the statutory procedure to initiate. It appears to him that the payments referred to in the report amounting to £164.90 were ultra vires of the County Council and therefore contrary to law; and he proposes to decide accordingly. He also proposes to decide that the payments were made in pursuance of an order of the Finance Committee at their meeting on 22nd September, 1971, under authority of the decision of the County Council at their special meeting on 18th August, 1971, and that accordingly the 25 members of the Council who voted at that special meeting to supply free milk to all pupils of primary school age in schools under the Council's management were the persons responsible for authorising the payments to be made.
3. The statute requires the Secretary of State to disallow any illegal payments and to surcharge the amount thereof upon any person authorising them to be made. Before making 316W a surcharge, the Secretary of State is however required to look at the circumstances in which the illegal payments took place to decide whether he would be justified, in terms of proviso (e) to Section 201(1) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947, in regarding the act of authorising the payments as having taken place "in such circumstances as to make it fair and equitable that a disallowance or surcharge should not be made".
4. One such circumstance that he would take into consideration is whether or not illegal payments were intended to continue indefinitely. If the County Council were to give an assurance that such payments would now cease, the Secretary of State would give favourable consideration to the exercise of his powers under proviso (e). He would be glad to know therefore, within 3 weeks from the receipt of this letter, whether the County Council are prepared to give such an assurance.
I am Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
A. C. COWAN.