By Vivienne Russell
9 November 2010
The committee is, in the
first instance, seeking written submissions of evidence, and will begin to take
oral evidence in the New Year.
The inquiry will examine
future arrangements for all the areas that were previously the responsibility
of the Audit Commission, including: annual audits of local authority
expenditure; oversight and inspection of local authority performance; and value
for money studies.
Committee chair and Labour
MP Clive Betts told Public Finance
that the abolition of the Audit Commission was a ‘big issue’.
‘The government is taking a
very hands-off approach to audit and inspection and we want to explore how that
will work in practice,’ he said.
Betts added that citizens needed
to be reassured that auditors appointed by councils would be properly impartial
and would continue to produce independent public interest reports.
‘Ministers have given contradictory answers on this,’ he said. ‘The auditor is independent and
the public have to have confidence in them. Where is the guarantee of
independence?’
He added:
‘We will also be looking closely to ensure that the useful work which the commission
does through value-for-money studies can be continued, for the good of local
government as a whole.’
Written
submissions are invited on the principles involved in the abolition of the
Audit Commission and the practical arrangements that might be put in its place.
‘We want
to hear from all key stakeholders within and outside local government itself,
for insights about the consequence of this decision and about the steps which
will be necessary to ensure full and appropriate accountability for local
authority expenditure in the future,’ Betts said.
Submissions
should be no more than 4,000 words in length and need to be emailed to the
committee by January 6 2011.
A DCLG spokesperson said: 'We are happy to work with the select committee and ensure proper Parliamentary oversight of our plans to scale back inspection, red tape and transfer the audit functions of the Audit Commission to the private sector.'
