Margaret Hodge MP calls for Queen’s staff to get a grip on royal finances

Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP in her office on Upper Committee Corridor Westminster (Image: Archant)

The Barking MP, speaking as chairman of the government’s public accounts committee, said the household, which supports the Queen’s day-to-day life, was not planning or managing its finances properly.

She also said the Treasury had failed to actively review the household’s finances.

A new report by the committee looks at the Sovereign Support Grant (SSG), which gives money to the Queen and was introduced by the government in 2011.

Ms Hodge said: “The household must get a much firmer grip on how it plans to address its maintenance backlog.

“It has not even costed the repair works needed to bring the estate back to an acceptable condition.”

She added: “We believe that the Treasury has a duty to be actively involved in reviewing the household’s financial planning and management – and it has failed to do so.”

The royal household employs around 1,200 staff, including 450 funded by the taxpayer.

These include caterers, housekeeping, accountancy, media relations and art curatorship.

Buckingham Palace said the SSG is a more transparent system but accepted that the backlog must be reduced.

A Treasury spokesman said: “The new arrangements established by the Sovereign Grant Act have made the royal finances more transparent than ever while providing the long term stability necessary for good planning. The report has failed to properly account for these changes.”