HC Deb 21 December 1955 vol 547 cc2016-8
40. Mr. Swingler

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air what action has been taken, as a result of investigations by the Committee of Public Accounts, to improve the standards of accountancy and economy in his Department.

Mr. Ward

Before the Public Accounts Committee reported on this matter, improvements had already been made in the distribution of stocks, in the manning and equipment of the depots, and in methods of store accounting. The question is being further examined in consultation with the Treasury in the light of the Committee's Report and a full statement will be furnished to the Committee in the usual Treasury Minute. As the hon. Member knows, the normal practice is for the Committee to present this Minute to the House shortly afterwards as an appendix to one of its own Reports.

Mr. Swingler

While personally wishing the hon. Gentleman well in his new post, may I ask him whether he will draw the attention of his successor to the very severe strictures in the latest Report of the Committee of Public Accounts, published on 17th November, in which attention is drawn to the fact that his Department, and the other Service Departments, have done nothing about the Report of five years earlier? Is he aware that the latest Report says that: … serious shortcomings in administration and in storekeeping and accounting still persist in all the Services some five years after the comments of the Public Accounts Committee of Session 1950. Can the hon. Gentleman give a definite assurance that the really shocking disclosures made in the latest Report will galvanise the Service Departments into some action to get a higher standard of economy and efficiency?

Mr. Ward

Yes, Sir, we have taken quite extensive measures to put matters right. I think that it would be better to wait for the details until a full statement can be made to the Committee of Public Accounts, but I can say that auditing test checks over the past year have confirmed that supervisory measures at stocktaking are now satisfactory, that the stocktaking programme is running to schedule, that the stocktaking results are much more reliable and that recording errors are comparatively rare. I assure the hon. Member that we are not complacent about this and we shall continue trying to improve the machinery wherever we can.