National Audit Office (Hansard, 29 June 1992)

§ 28. Mrs. Currie
To ask the Chairman of the Public Accounts Commission what funds have been expended in the last two years by the National Audit Office in maintaining links with similar organisations in the European Community.

§ Sir Peter Hordern (Chairman of the Public Accounts Commission)
The National Audit Office spent about £60,000 in the financial year 1990–91 and £120,000 in 1991–92 on maintaining links with similar organisations in the European Community.

§ Mrs. Currie
I am delighted to hear that the National Audit Office is spending money maintaining links with the European Commission. Given that the most difficult problem with public money is keeping tabs on it, finding 574 out where it has gone and ensuring that we obtain value for money for it, is it not right and proper that we, with our knowledge and expertise in this country, should be sharing the same with our colleagues in the European Community and ensuring that they do the same?

§ Sir Peter Hordern
My hon. Friend is quite right. As she knows, one of the provisions of the Maastricht treaty is to give the European Parliament new powers, which may be turned to examine the Commission as a whole, in respect of examining expenditure in much the same way as our Public Accounts Committee does here. I hope that the budget committee of the European Parliament will be able to carry out its work.

§ 29. Mr. Peter Bottomley
To ask the Chairman of the Public Accounts Commission how much the National Audit Office spends on publicity for its reports.

§ Sir Peter Hordern
The National Audit Office handles its own publicity and one member of staff acts as press officer. Advance copies of reports are provided to the press and other interested parties. In the financial year 1991–92, the cost of those copies amounted to about £6,000.

§ Mr. Bottomley
I suspect that that is very good value for money, economical, efficient and effective. Will my hon. Friend the Chairman of the Public Accounts Commission pass on to the Comptroller and Auditor General my thanks and the thanks of the House as in future those reports are to be made available to hon. Members at 3.30 pm, before they are made available to the press, and not at midnight?

§ Sir Peter Hordern
I am obliged to my hon. Friend.

§ 30. Mr. Morgan
To ask the Chairman of the Public Accounts Commission how many non-departmental public bodies are audited by the National Audit Office.

§ Sir Peter Hordern
The National Audit Office audits the individual accounts of 92 non-departmental public bodies.

§ Mr. Morgan
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that reply. Can he comment on the written reply that I received from the Financial Secretary to the Treasury in January which referred to the principle that the choice between having bodies audited by private accountants or by the NAO is normally related to how quasi-commercial are the activities of that public body? Can the hon. Gentleman confirm that no reason will be given to the House relating to lack of resources or staffing in the NAO, for which I believe the hon. Gentleman has a responsibility, as grounds for putting the auditing of grant-maintained schools out to private accountants? A school must be the last public body that one could possibly think of as being quasi-commercial, so the auditing of grant-maintained schools should clearly not be carried out by private accountants.

§ Sir Peter Hordern
I understand that some schools are required to appoint an external auditor and to provide the Department of Education with annual audited accounts. The audit arrangements will be covered by a code of practice on which accountancy bodies and the National Audit Office have been consulted. The hon. Gentleman might also like to know that the Comptroller and Auditor General has rights to inspect the accounts and relevant records of individual schools and to carry out value-for-money studies. The National Audit Office is 575 currently undertaking a study of the financial control of grant-maintained schools, during which it will exercise those inspection rights. The hon. Gentleman is quite right: there is no question of the National Audit Office suffering from lack of funds.