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Maria Miller: "I fully accept the recommendations of the committee and thank them for bringing this matter to an end"
The Commons Committee on Standards has ordered Culture Secretary Maria Miller to repay £5,800 and apologise to MPs.
It cleared her of the central charge of deliberately submitting expenses claims to which she was not entitled, but said her attitude to the inquiry breached MPs' code of conduct.
The £5,800 is to cover over-claiming of mortgage expenses after she failed to cut her claims as interest rates fell.
In a 32 second statement, Mrs Miller told MPs she apologised "unreservedly".
The committee suggested that she had tried to argue her case before the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards in a "legalistic" way.
She should "apologise by personal statement on the floor of the House for her attitude to the Commissioner's inquiries", it concluded.
'Dismissed'"If the Commissioner had been able swiftly to establish the facts relating to Mrs Miller's mortgages, and had been able to gather the documentation which would have allowed her (and has allowed us) to judge the relationship between the changes in bank base rate and the interest charged to Mrs Miller, this might have been a relatively minor matter," the committee said.
Instead, it said, the investigation had been mired in "delay and difficulty", arising from "incomplete documentation and fragmentary information".
"Mrs Miller has to carry significant responsibility for that."
"Officials would press her for information and the information that was provided appears to have been the minimum necessary," it explained.
The investigation was prompted by a formal complaint in December 2012 from Labour MP John Mann.
This followed reports she had allowed her parents to live in a property on which she claimed £90,718 in second home allowances between 2005 and 2009.
The committee rejected the charge that she or her parents had benefited financially from the arrangements.
"There can be no criticism of [Mrs Miller] in relation to her personal, caring responsibilities and her desire to combine these with the role of an elected representative," it said.
Mrs Miller told the Commons: "The report resulted from an allegation made by the member for Bassetlaw [Mr Mann]. The committee has dismissed his allegation.
"The committee has recommended that I apologise to the House for my attitude to the commissioner's inquiries, and I of course unreservedly apologise.
"I fully accept the recommendations of the committee and thank them for bringing this matter to an end."
PM David Cameron said: "Maria Miller is doing an excellent job as culture secretary and will continue to do that.
"If we look at this report, yes of course these issues do matter - but she was cleared of the original allegation made against her.
"An over-payment was found which she is going to pay back. She'll make a full apology, and I think people should leave it at that."
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