HC Deb 15 February 1995 vol 254 cc726-7W
Dr. David Clark

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what grounds he has decided not to publish the independent investigation by KPMG Peat Marwick into the official residence known as Haymes Garth.

Mr. Soames

I have made a full report to Parliament on this matter, and do not believe it would be appropriate to publish the report by KPMG Peat Marwick, which is confidential and was prepared for the use of senior management and Ministers.

Dr. David Clark

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 10 February to the hon. Member for Fareham (Sir P. Lloyd),Official Report, column 465, if he will specify the occasions on which the House was provided with wrong information concerning expenditure on Sir Sandy Wilson's official residence, Haymes Garth; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Soames

The two occasions on which the House was provided with incorrect information on this subject were in the answers given by the then Minister of State for the Armed Forces, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond and Barnes (Mr. J. Hanley), first to the hon. Member on 9 February 1994,Official Report, columns 362–63, which put the figure at some £250,000, and, subsequently to the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Mr. Jones) on 29 March, Official Report, column 732, which gave a figure of around £260,000. In his answer to the hon. Member for Dorset, West (Sir J. Spicer) on 4 July 1994, Official Report, column 85, the then Minister of State for the Armed Forces provided the revised figure of £387,000 and expressed his regret that an incorrect figure had been given in the preceding answer.