A former spending watchdog has been asked to investigate after a new front door was installed at the House of Lords that cost nearly £10m and does not work.
A security officer had to be permanently stationed at the door to press a button to open it, which one peer calculated was costing £2,500 each week.
It also emerged the cost of the work spiralled by nearly 60% from the original estimate of £6.1m.
The Lord Speaker has now written to independent crossbencher Lord Morse, who led the National Audit Office for a decade, to investigate the £9.6m door debacle.
In his letter, 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 £6.1m was arrived at and the increase to the current total of £9.6m, 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.”
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Former Tory 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 £10m for a door that does not work. Somebody accountable should be identified and should perhaps resign for this terrible waste of public money.”
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Tory 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.”
In response, 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.”
