HC Deb 12 February 1908 vol 184 cc39-41
MR. J. MACVEAGH

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that under the District Auditors Act of 1879, the fee for auditing the accounts of local authorities in England is fixed by scale, and that under this scale the fee for auditing the accounts of Down County Council would be about £45, whereas the auditing actually costs that body £100, in addition to £30 for the asylum accounts and other sums paid from local sources; whether Irish fees are fixed at random instead of by scale; and whether by Order in Council, or otherwise, he will take steps to reduce the charges for official auditing in Ireland.

MR. BIRRELL

I understand that the fees for auditing the accounts of local authorities in England are fixed by scale. I have no information as to what the fee for auditing the accounts of the Down County Council would amount to on that scale, but I am advised that the financial system is so entirely different in the two countries that a scale fixed for Ireland on the same basis would not give adequate remuneration for the work to be done. The Irish audit fees are not fixed at random, but are determined by the Local Government Board after careful consideration of the circumstances in each case, the volume of the work to be done and the time necessarily occupied being the chief factors. The amount of work depends rather on the number of items in the account than on the amounts of those items. It is not proposed to reduce the fees. Any change should rather be in the direction of increasing them, seeing that the fees charged to local authorities are £6,000 a year less than the cost of the audits.

MR. J. MACVEAGH

What financial conditions prevail in Ireland which makes it necessary that the fees charged for auditing the accounts of the public bodies should be exactly three times as much as they are in England?

MR. BIRRELL

I am told that the number of accounts to be audited is so great that the English scale would not be proper remuneration for the work done.

MR. JOYCE

Why is it that the Irish Local Government Board have authority to make these charges without consulting the local elected bodies who have to pay simply any charge the Board like to make?

MR. BIRRELL

It must be borne in mind that even as it is the audit costs £6,000 more than is charged to the local authorities.

MR. J. MACVEAGH

Has the attention of the right hon. Gentleman been directed to the decision of the Court of King's Bench that the charges for auditing the accounts should be inclusive of the charges for auditing committee accounts? Is not the Local Government Board making a separate charge for the committee accounts?

MR. BIRRELL

Of course the Local Government Board will have to act on that decision.

MR. J. MACVEAGH

They are not doing so.

MR. FLYNN (Cork, N.)

Is it because Ireland is the poorer country?

MR. SWIFT MACNEILL

Will the right hon. Gentleman press the Local Government Board on this matter?

MR. BIRRELL

I will certainly call for a full explanation.