WESTMINSTER'S value-for-money watchdog has been called upon to investigate the finances of the Crown Estate after the UK Government announced the landowner would provide the annual income for the Queen and members of the Royal Household.
Ian Davidson, the Labour MP for Glasgow South West and Chairman of the Commons Scottish Affairs Committee, said that now the Treasury had announced the change to royal income he would “ask the National Audit Office to bring forward a full report on the Crown Estate’s finances, so we can have a full discussion on how much the royal family should receive from them”.
He added that the inquiry would complement the one the Scottish Affairs Committee was currently undertaking on the Crown Estate in Scotland.
In the Commons, the Chancellor announced the biggest reform to royal finances for almost 40 years, replacing the Civil List with a so-called “sovereign grant”, equivalent to 15% of the profits from the £6.7 billion Crown Estate.
It is estimated this will be worth around £34 million to the Queen and other members of the Royal Family in 2013/14. A review would take place every seven years.
George Osborne argued that the change would improve flexibility and accountability.
He said Crown Estate profits would increase significantly in the years ahead through offshore wind projects.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article