25 October 2002
Senior MPs were this week critical of news that the partner of a senior Labour minister is the front-runner to chair the Audit Commission.
Members of the Commons' public administration select committee were reacting to reports that James Strachan, partner of arts minister Baroness Blackstone, is ministers' preferred choice to chair the independent local government watchdog. The committee recently investigated supposed 'conflicts of interest' within public services.
Strachan, who steps down as chief executive of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf next month, is reportedly one of two nominees for the post, which has been vacant for more than a year.
His nomination, at a time when the Audit Commission will start rating councils' competence under the Comprehensive Performance Assessments, has been poorly received.
The vacant post was clouded in controversy following moves by Liberal Democrat and Conservative members of the Local Government Association to veto ministers' choice of Lord Norman Warner earlier this year, amid accusations that the former adviser to Jack Straw would not be sufficiently independent.
A senior PASC source told Public Finance: 'On the back of that controversy, I'm stunned by the news that Strachan has even been considered. His appointment would compromise claims that the Audit Commission was independent.'
A spokesman for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister would not confirm the number of applicants or the names of candidates. An official announcement is due in early November.
PFoct2002
