Expenses legit

David Alexander can be reassured that the payment of expenses to the wife of the head of Surrey European Management School (Letters, THES, July 28) is legitimate. The transaction was properly authorised in line with approved travel arrangements for this school and, like the rest of the university's financial transactions, is subject to independent external audit and also to this institution's internal audit.

It is also the case that SEMS is a self-financing enterprise unit that has not been allocated any funds from the funding council in the 1999-2000 financial year.

I hope, therefore, that taxpayers in general and Mr Alexander in particular can take comfort from these facts.

A. J. Knapp

Director of finance

University of Surrey