29 September 2006
The Audit Commission is in good shape and ready to tackle future challenges as the public service debate moves on, its outgoing chair said this week.
Speaking to Public Finance, Sir Michael Lyons, who stands down at the end of September, reflected on his three years with the commission, including the past nine months as acting chair following the unexpected departure of James Strachan.
Lyons, who is also heading the inquiry into the future of local government, has frequently criticised the amount of time councils spend looking up to Whitehall rather than out to their communities.
But he insisted there was no conflict between these views and his work for the commission, which he said had led the way for minimising the burden of inspection.
'I've never been sure the Harder Test was the right term [for the second incarnation of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment]. The More Sophisticated Test would have been better,' he told PF.
'The Audit Commission was distinctive among public sector regulators for putting up the flag for strategic regulation. I'm most proud of that.'
Lyons added that the commission's inspection approach had shifted thinking in the country.
The CPA, he said, could also be adapted to measure councils' success at 'place-shaping' – an idea to emerge from his inquiry.
Lyons added that he had 'no problem' with the peer-review approach to inspection advocated by the Local Government Association but said core judgements should 'unquestionably' remain with an independent body.
'I'm clear that proper judgements about good governance arrangements, how well a council uses resources available, how well it captures the voices of the service user, that's the heart of [the Audit Commission's work]. That doesn't change,' he said.
Looking to the future, he said he could see more scope for co-operation between public service regulators. During Lyons' tenure, the commission has worked closely with the National Audit Office as well as on joint inspection arrangements for children's services with Ofsted and the health and social care inspectorates.
Lyons said he was also proud that the commission itself was becoming more efficient. The award of audit contracts had already netted savings of £26m and he said he was confident that total savings would be even larger.
'That's the Audit Commission doing what it tells other people to do,' he said.
Lyons hands over the chair of the commission to Michael O'Higgins, a former managing partner with PA Consulting.
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