Thank you for your letter dated 16th April regarding the complaint against me by Cllr David Sutton. I am not clear from his letter whether he is writing to you in his capacity as Leader of the Council or a local Katesgrove ward Councillor? He suggests there have been complaints from his 'constituents' about my Parliamentary Report, I would welcome the opportunity to see these complaints.

I am grateful for your comments and for specifically identifying the relevant sections of the guidance published by the Department of Finance and Administration. I will respond to each of the points in your letter in the order you list them:

1.  43,000 copies of my Report were produced and delivered to my constituency office in February, with the instruction from me that they were to be delivered as soon as possible but prior to the start of the election expense period for declared candidates (i.e.27th March) in order to ensure that there could be no appearance of impropriety. I am aware that a very small number of reports were delivered after that date due to reliance on volunteer deliverers, some of whom are elderly. However I know that in the vast majority of the constituency (including Church ward) my instruction was met. This deadline ensured that not only was it delivered prior to the start of the election expense period but prior to the nomination of candidates for the local elections.

I am not aware of any guidance from the Department of Finance & Administration that suggests when Parliamentary Reports can or cannot be delivered. I believe I have broken no rules and indeed have tried to avoid my report going out during the local election period.

For your information, the DFA cleared the report on 22 February, it went to press shortly afterwards and first reports were delivered to constituents towards the end of February. Deliveries continued through March as described above.

2.  Mr … is a constituent and Chairman of Reading East Conservative Association. In the latter role he accompanies me from time to time on constituency visits and other more political occasions. He is named in my Report but he is not identified as a candidate nor is he in any way associated with the ward in which he is standing. Indeed, my complaint about the Reading West MP's most recent report is that it identifies sitting Councillors who are up for election with their ward name. I was careful to avoid any form of promotion. I believe that DFA would not have cleared the copy had it felt the literature was 'promoting' a candidate.

3.  A survey of residents' opinions was delivered in Katesgrove ward at the same time as my Parliamentary Report but was not intended to be "within" the Report. My local Conservative Association arranged for this to be done as part of the same delivery as the rules allow. Both items were loose and were not in any "cover" of any description. In other wards very few surveys were delivered at the same time as my Report, only in Katesgrove ward was the entire ward surveyed at the same time as my report was delivered.

With regards to the complaint about the use of the term "Reading East Conservatives" and of the party logo, my staff made enquiries of the Dept of Finance and Administration (DFA) in January specifically with regards to this point (copies of the enquiry and response are attached). In addition a copy of the final proof was passed to the DFA for comment and approval prior to printing and as a result some minor amendments were made. Printing was only undertaken once I had a written statement of approval from the DFA that the Report met all the "relevant criteria".

On the final point I apologise that I did not send a copy of my letter to you, to the Member for Reading West. However, I took advice on how complaints of this nature should be handled from the Clerk of the House and this was not suggested. It was an oversight on the part of my office and I will ensure that in any future similar event a suitable notification is issued.

I would like to point out though that advance notification is not a courtesy the Reading West Member usually extends to me. He raised the substance of this complaint about my Report on the floor of the House without prior notification to me and is also a frequent visitor to my constituency for photo opportunities and other public events, also without extending to me the usual courtesies, a matter I have raised with the Speaker. I would welcome you contacting the Speaker's Secretary, Mr …, with regard to some useful background.

I have throughout sought advice from the relevant House authorities and made every effort to avoid using Parliamentary resources for campaigning purposes. I will happily take any advice you may have for future Reports and accept any ruling that clarifies the position with regards to when a Report may and may not be delivered.

25 April 2007