Questions that Sir John Lyon might like to ask Caroline Spelman on Monday
- 7 Jun 08, 05:41 PM
1. What total sum did Caroline Spelman pay Tina Haynes (nee Rawlins) from her Parliamentary Staffing Allowance in the period 1997-98?
2. What were the exact dates of Tina Haynes's employment as constituency secretary, and the dates for which she was paid from Spelman's Parliamentary Staffing Allowance?
3. Was there a contract of employment, as a constituency secretary, or for her secretarial work?
4. What did this specify?
5. Was there a contract of employment for her childcare work, and what did this specify?
6. What paperwork, apart from letters to claim Tina Haynes's pay from Parliament, is there to prove Tina Haynes was really acting as Caroline Spelman's constituency secretary for that period?
7. Was Tina Haynes qualified in any way as a secretary? Did she have any typing/shorthand/filing/computer skills etc.
8. Was Tina Haynes a trained nursery nurse?
10. Had Tina Haynes ever worked as a secretary before working for Caroline Spelman, and has she ever worked as a secretary since then?
11. Has Caroline Spelman ever provided an employment reference for Tina Haynes, and did this highlight her secretarial work? Can we see a copy?
12. How many letters a week did Tina Haynes type for Caroline Spelman?
13. How many MPs' diary arrangements did Tina Haynes arrange for Caroline Spelman?
14. How many phone calls of a parliamentary/political/constituency nature did Tina Haynes make on behalf of Caroline Spelman?
15. Is it true that Tina Haynes was not paid any money for her childcare work from 1997-98? (The Conservative Party says she did the childcare for no pay but received free accommodation, use of a car and meals.)
16. Did Tina Haynes carry on her childcare duties for no pay after her secretarial work ceased in 1998?
17. Was Tina Haynes paid very much the same amount for her childcare work after 1998 as she was paid from the Parliamentary Allowance for her secretarial work before 1998?
18. Did Tina Haynes know that her financial payments from Caroline Spelman from 1997 to 1998 were solely for secretarial work and not for her childcare work?
19. Was the initial contact with Tina Haynes on the basis that she would be employed as a nanny, or as a secretary?
20. What the position publicly advertised? If so, where? Did Caroline Spelman find Tina Haynes through a childcare agency or a secretarial agency?
21. How was Tina Haynes paid for her childcare work from 1998 to 2002, and how much?
22. What extra childcare duties, if any, did Tina Haynes perform after 1998?
23. Did Tina Haynes continue to receive payment in kind after 1998 - ie free accommodation, use of a car and meals?
24. If Tina Haynes was also paid wages after 1998, what extra childcare work was she doing to justify this new remuneration?
25. Given that Caroline Spelman's youngest child was only two and half in May 1997, can Mrs Spelman confirm that all her three children were at school (or nursery or play-group) full time between 9am and 3pm, Monday to Friday, from May 1997 onwards?
26. Has Caroline Spelman ever told the Commons authorities that Tina Haynes also worked as her nanny in 1997-98? When did she tell them this?
27. What was Caroline Spelman's new constituency secretary, appointed in 1998, paid? How does that pay compare with Tina Haynes? What extra duties did the new secretary fulfil, and how many hours a week did she work?
28. Was Tina Haynes's name published anywhere as being her constituency secretary (though she was then called Tina Rawlins)?
29. When did Caroline Spelman have her conversation with the Chief Whip, James Arbuthnot about this issue? Has any record been kept of that conversation? Did Caroline Spelman explain to Tina Haynes why she would no longer be acting as her constituency secretary?
30. Did Tina Haynes look after Caroline Spelman's three children from 9am to 3pm during school half-terms and holidays?
31. How many hours per week in total did Caroline Spelman expect Tina Haynes to work for her during the period 1997-98?
32. Were Caroline Spelman's arrangements with Tina Haynes ever brought to the attention of William Hague, the then Conservative leader?
