UK Royals household reserves touches a historic low of £1 million
British lawmakers to cut cost of the Queen, tackle the backlog of repairs of the crumbling palaces.
London: British lawmakers on Tuesday took aim at Queen Elizabeth II’s household accountants, saying they must cut their costs and tackle a huge backlog of repairs to the monarch's crumbling palaces.
Palace officials must also do more to boost the royal family's income as they are dipping into reserve funds alarmingly often, parliament's public accounts committee said in a report.
The queen’s reserves are down to a “historically low” £1 million, the report revealed.
Committee chairwom-an Margaret Hodge said lawmakers felt the queen had “not been served well” by her household accountants or by the Treasury, the finance ministry which is supposed to scrutinise royal spending.
“The household needs to get better at planning and managing its budgets for the longer term and the Treasury should be more actively involved in reviewing what the household is doing,” she said.
The report warned that palace officials were failing to invest in repairs, with nearly 40 per cent of the royal estate deemed to be in an unacceptable condition when assessments were made in March 2012.