UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Richard Ford, Home Correspondent
July 15 2017
The Times

The Home Office has been handed a substantial fine by the Treasury after Amber Rudd’s department broke Whitehall rules over the salary given to the head of the child sex abuse inquiry.

Ms Rudd, the home secretary, hired Alexis Jay after Dame Lowell Goddard, a judge from New Zealand, quit in controversial circumstances.

Ms Rudd had been in position for only a few weeks when she appointed Professor Jay. It was a speedy appointment to ensure the inquiry continued to operate with minimum disruption. However, in what could be considered a political case of more haste less speed, her department has been landed with a fine of £366,000 for breaching spending processes over the salary she offered her choice to head the investigation.

It emerged in the Home Office’s 2016-17 annual report that Ms…