Gavron breaches rules on declaring hospitality

The Conservatives have referred Nicky Gavron to the local government watchdog, the Standards Board for England, after an Evening Standard exposé found she forgot to list the dinners on the City Hall register. The Mayor and London Assembly members such as Ms Gavron are required by the Greater London Authority's code of conduct to register all gifts and hospitality worth £25 or above within 28 days of their receipt. The Labour Deputy Mayor has not declared a dinner for 16 months - despite her own office diary, obtained by the Standard under the Freedom of Information Act, listing dozens of events where she was entertained.

Richard Barnes, leader of the Assembly Tories, is writing to the Standards Board to ask it to investigate. It has the power to suspend politicians from office but it is thought a reprimand would be the most likely sanction for Ms Gavron if she was found guilty of disrepute.

A gifts and hospitality list for the Mayor and 25 Assembly members was published this week but there was not a single entry for the Deputy Mayor.

However, her diary lists at least 30 lunches or dinners she attended, of which at least 21 appear to have been provided by outside bodies and so should have been registered.

One City Hall insider said: "She is not following the rules. This is a serious matter. You are not telling me that the Deputy Mayor has had no hospitality whatsoever - no lunches and no dinners? That is not credible. I think she has been failing to declare them."

The register, which exists to maintain transparency and avoid conflicts of interest, contains only four entries from Ms Gavron for this year - all gifts.

These are: a business card holder from the Mayor of Seoul, the use of a room at Canary Wharf, a book called Cut Carbon, Grow Profits and a bottle of Chateau Laniote 2001 claret, which she received for speaking at a business launch.

The last meal she declared was in July last year when the Micropower Council took her to an awards ceremony at the Commonwealth Club in Northumberland Avenue.

But according to her diary, between August last year and July this year she had dinner with the Thames Gateway London Partnership, the Partnership for New York City, the City of London Corporation (twice), London First, the New Statesman, the Royal Society, Chelsea Flower Show and the Design Council.

She travelled to Sweden, New York (twice), Brussels (twice), Nairobi, Cannes and Paris but did not list a single meal abroad on the register.

Ms Gavron also attended a performance of Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall - although it is not clear if this was a gift - the reopening of the Royal Festival Hall and the Live Earth concert at Wembley stadium.

Ms Gavron, who has been told by Ken Livingstone she will retain her £90,954-a-year post if he is re-elected in May, said in a statement: "I am very happy to provide information about the functions I attend in my capacity as Deputy Mayor and to this end my office provided, a few months ago, a thorough response to a request from the Standard for details of my official functions.

"However, due to an administrative oversight, some functions have not been entered into the hospitality register as they should have been according to the code of conduct.

"I have taken immediate steps to rectify this as soon as it was brought to my attention and have put in place systems to ensure that all such future functions are entered properly."