Keeping the Queen’s books

British MPs are poised to win the right to scrutinise the way the Queen spends taxpayers' money and the management of grace and favour apar...

British MPs are poised to win the right to scrutinise the way the Queen spends taxpayers’ money and the management of grace and favour apartments in the five royal palaces. In another gesture towards greater openness, it would mean public scrutiny of the way the $42 million a year paid to the Queen by the Treasury for staff and maintenance of the five occupied royal palaces is spent.

On Thursday night the chairman of the public accounts committee, David Davis, said: “It’s a good principle that Parliament should be able to follow public money wherever it goes.” Treasury Minister Dawn Primarolo meets Davis next week, but she has already indicated that she is enthusiastic about the principle of extending the reach of the committee and of Parliament’s financial watchdog, the National Audit Office.

Before the election, an inquiry into the running of the royal palaces revealed that there was no formal record of the number of grace and favour apartments, nor of the income the Queen received in rent. A report is likely to be published soon.

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The Queen receives $11.5 million a year from the Civil List to pay for the staff and back-up for her functions as Head of State. It used to be voted annually by Parliament, but is now set for 10 years at a time, with the current figure due to last until 2001.

About 70 per cent is spent on salaries. It is scrutinised by the permanent secretary at the Treasury, who reports privately to the Prime Minister. All that is revealed publicly is whether or not spending has exceeded the Civil List allowance.

Prince Charles is said to favour abolishing the Civil List altogether. It was introduced in 1760 when the income from the Crown Estate, now worth over $150 million a year, was made over to the Government. He sees it as a modernising gesture.

The Queen also receives a $30million grant-in-aid from the Department of National Heritage which pays for the upkeep of the five occupied palaces Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, Clarence House, St James’s Palace and Windsor Castle. This grant is already scrutinised by the National Audit Office, but it has no guaranteed right of access and relies on the co-operation of officials.

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Davis said it was an important principle that Sir John Bourn, the NAO comptroller general, “has direct access to papers and people, rather than have to depend on the willingness of those whom he is auditing and the papers they choose to make available”.

Until now some members of the committee have been concerned that seeking the right to scrutinise the monarch’s spending could be seen as a challenge to the Queen herself. Last night, the Liberal Democrat member of the committee, Robert Maclennan, denied the suggestions. “It would strengthen the sovereign against any possible criticism that public money is being spent inappropriately or imprudently. And it will not happen if the Palace is unwilling. It is not in any way a challenge to the family or the institution.”

The Observer News Service

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