§ Mr. Bill O'BrienTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister, (1) how the costs on the District Auditor's Office inquiry908W into the sale of dwellings by Westminster Council will be distributed; how much other local authorities will be charged to cover the costs; and if he will make a statement. [76860]
(2) what he estimates the cost of the inquiry into housing sales by Westminster City Council will be to the Office of the District Auditor; and if he will make a statement. [76861]
§ Mr. McNultyThe auditor's investigation leading to his decision in 1996 that six individuals had caused a loss, through wilful misconduct, of some 31million to Westminster City Council. and to issue surcharge certificates against those individuals, cost approximately 3 million. Those costs were met by Westminster City Council.
The auditor's costs in the subsequent litigation (during which the Divisional Court set aside the auditor's surcharge in respect of four of the six individuals) leading to the decision of the House of Lords in December 2001, to uphold the surcharge against Dame Shirley Porter and David Weeks, were met by the Audit Commission. The total of the auditor's litigation costs to this point was around 4.5million. Westminster City Council is currently taking legal action to recover the amount of the surcharge and costs. The final costs of the investigation and litigation will not be known until the outcome of those proceedings.