Ex-spending watchdog called in to probe £10 million Lords front door ‘scandal'
The Lord Speaker has now written to independent crossbencher Lord Morse, who led the National Audit Office for a decade, to look into the £9.6 million debacle.
Parliament has previously heard that a security officer had to be permanently stationed at the door to press a button to open it. One peer has calculated this was costing £2,500 per week.
It also emerged that the price tag for the work spiralled by nearly 60% from the original estimate of £6.1 million.
The fiasco has raised questions over lessons to be learned for the long-delayed restoration of the Palace of Westminster, which is forecast to cost billions of pounds.
In his letter to Lord Morse, Lord McFall of Alcluith, who chairs the House of Lords Commission that oversees the running of the site, said: 'The commission identified that it was unclear how many issues were due to manufacturing and installation failures and how many were due to issues with the initial identification of requirements and subsequent need for alterations.
'Additional information will be needed to understand the failures, including information on costs – both how the initial project figure of £6.1 million was arrived at and the increase to the current total of £9.6 million, and any unanticipated additional costs such as increased staffing to manage and operate the entrance.
'It will be important to assess the quality of the decision-making in establishing the project and the ways in which the evidence provided for the specifications of the new entrance were tested to ensure they took account of user requirements.'
He added: 'The problems that have arisen around delivery of the new entrance pose larger questions about effective programme delivery, including capability within parliamentary departments.'
Speaking at Westminster, senior deputy speaker Lord Gardiner of Kimble, who also sits on the commission, said: 'It is unacceptable that the Peers' Entrance does not operate as it should. The commission has directed urgent work to resolve this.'
He added: 'The cost to remedy defects will not be borne by the House and will be met by Parliament's contractors.'
Tory former minister Lord Robathan said: 'I do not hold the Senior Deputy Speaker responsible for this scandal, but it is a scandalous waste of public money.'
Demanding to know who was responsible 'by name', he said: 'It is now nearly £10 million for a door that does not work. Somebody accountable should be identified and should perhaps resign for this terrible waste of public money.'
Conservative peer Lord Hayward said: 'The Senior Deputy Speaker told us the total cost, but the staff manning that door, calculated on the written answer he provided to me, are costing £2,500 per week. That cost has to be borne by someone.'
Responding, Lord Gardiner said: 'On the issue of the number of people involved in the manual use of the door while it is being repaired and made usable, I am assured that they are within the existing complement of members of staff.'
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