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Hanningfield suspended from Lords over expenses breach Lord Hanningfield set to be suspended over expenses breach
(about 1 hour later)
Former Tory peer Lord Hanningfield has been ordered to repay £3,300 in expenses and suspended from the Lords for more than a year. Lord Hanningfield faces being suspended from Parliament for more than a year for "failing to act on his personal honour" over expenses claims.
The standards watchdog found he had breached the code of conduct on claiming parliamentary allowances. The standards watchdog found he had breached the code of conduct on allowances and recommended he be barred from Parliament until May 2015.
It followed allegations that he had "clocked on" to claim the daily £300 allowance for attending the Lords, leaving Parliament shortly afterwards. It found the former Tory peer claimed the daily £300 allowance for attending the Lords on 11 occasions, without "undertaking any parliamentary work".
He has been suspended until the start of the next Parliament in May 2015. It also said he should repay £3,300.
An investigation into his conduct by the parliamentary commissioner for standards found that on 11 days in question when he claimed the allowance, Lord Hanningfield was on the parliamentary estate for fewer than 40 minutes. A suspension of more than a year - which must be agreed by the whole House of Lords before it can take effect - is the maximum penalty that can be imposed on a member of the Lords.
'Clocking on'
Lord Hanningfield, a former head of Essex County Council, was convicted of expenses fraud in 2011 - and was given a nine month jail sentence.
The parliamentary commissioner for standards investigated the peer after reports last year in the Mirror alleging Lord Hanningfield had "clocked on" to claim the daily allowance paid to peers.
Peers are not paid a salary but can claim a maximum daily allowance of £300 if they attend a sitting.
The paper said the peer had travelled to London from his Essex home specifically to claim the allowance, returning home shortly afterwards, having spent little time in Parliament.
In its report, the watchdog found that on the 11 days in question which it investigated, Lord Hanningfield was on the parliamentary estate for less than 40 minutes.
'Specific work'
While there was no threshold for the amount of time a peer should spend in Parliament to justify getting the allowance, it found Lord Hanninfield had breached the code of conduct governing peers' work.
"Lord Hanningfield was unable to point to any specific work that he had undertaken on the 11 days covered by the Commissioner's investigation," the report concluded.
"In our view it is clear that the daily allowance should be claimed only on days when parliamentary work has been undertaken."
Lord Hanningfield said he had been preparing for a debate on the railways and said his psychological and physical health stemming from his expenses conviction prevented him from spending more time on the parliamentary estate over the period in question.
But the committee said there was "no evidence" he had been working on the debate on the days in question and, at the very least, he should have claimed the reduced attendance allowance of £150.
Lord Hanningfield has claimed that half the members of the Lords clocked in and out of Parliament for a few minutes a day to claim the full £300 allowance.