The general election will end the most turbulent parliament in decades. Public Accounts Committee chair Meg Hillier reflects on the lessons to be learned and what’s to come
The government’s mooted solution to the local audit crisis needs to work, or the Whole of Government Accounts risks being stuck in poor quality for several years, a group of MPs has warned.
Every pound the government spends is worth scrutinising, especially during an emergency such as the pandemic, parliament's Public Accounts Committee chair Meg Hillier writes upon publication of her...
“Woeful” progress on recovering fraudulent and incorrect claims from Covid-19 job support schemes has left billions of pounds of public money at risk, the Public Accounts Committee has warned.
A new mechanism is needed to provide the government and public with an early warning system prior to the publishing of section 114 notices, Public Accounts Committee chair Meg Hillier told PF.
Excessive staff turnover in the civil service is costing the taxpayer up to £74m a year in recruitment, training and lost productivity, according to a think-tank.
The Public Accounts Committee chair has been speaking “behind the scenes to persuade various players” to enhance the scrutiny of local government spending.
Sustainable Transformation Plans are shrouded in secrecy and the government is ‘selling the family silver’ without a thought for the long-term consequences. So says Meg Hillier, chair of the Public...
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has only a “shaky grasp” of the issues facing local authority finances, the Public Accounts Committee has claimed.
The high turnover of civil servants and their limited freedom to challenge ministers is responsible for a lot of government policy failure, the chair of the Public Accounts Committee has told...
Public bickering between government ministers and NHS chiefs is undermining efforts to address the health service’s financial challenges, a committee of MPs has warned today.
The NHS is failing to recover enough money from overseas patients because its current systems are “chaotic”, MPs on the Public Accounts Committee have said.
The Public Accounts Committee has a vital role in providing parliamentary oversight of government spending and public services but its work is changing in response to devolution. There is a need for...
Ongoing failures of leadership and governance must be urgently addressed if shared service centres are to deliver expected savings, the Public Accounts Committee said today.
Revenue & Customs must do more to tackle the perception that it does not take on tax fraud by the wealthy, a report by the Public Accounts Committee has stated.
The Treasury’s £757.1m sale of the taxpayers’ stake in Eurostar raises fresh concerns that the government is undervaluing public assets when privatising them, the Public Accounts Committee has warned...
The chair of the Public Accounts Committee has accused some Whitehall departments of “playing fast and loose with taxpayers’ money” after a report found spending on consultants and temporary staff...
Failures in tackling fraud and error in the benefits and tax credit systems remain prevalent, with combined underpayments and overpayments in excess of £47bn in 2013/14, the Public Accounts...
A government target to build over 100,000 homes on public land represented “wishful thinking dressed up as public policy”, the Public Accounts Committee has said today, and ministers have no record...
There has been a “significant failure” by the Home Office to provide police forces with the support they need to maintain services amid budget cuts, the Public Accounts Committee has warned today.
The new chair of the Public Accounts Committee has said the watchdog will scrutinise departmental plans after November’s Spending Review in an effort to tackle so-called cost shunting across the...
