§ Sir H. NIELD asked the Minister of Pensions (1) in what respect was the Ministry dissatisfied with the manner in which the Ealing local committee's accounts were kept; was any intimation given to the local committee, and when, of such dissatisfaction; what were the reasons which made the examination of these accounts more than ordinarily difficult; was any attempt made to get rid of the difficulties; was the committee ever asked, and when and by whom, to remove the difficulties;
§ (2) how many visits have been paid by inspectors and auditors of the Ministry to the Ealing local pensions committee since the commencement of the present year for the express and sole purpose of the due audit of the accounts of the committee; when were such visits paid and by whom; was any notice given to the local committee or its officers of the intended visits; were these visits merely routine ordinary visits; and if not, for what reasons were they made?
§ Mr. MACPHERSON: The Ministry found on investigation in January last that there had been serious failure to keep adequate account of the cash transactions of the local committee. Officers of the Audit Branch of the Ministry were thereupon instructed to examine the 1679W accounts in detail, and visits to the offices of the committee were paid on twelve occasions during January, February, and March. The absence of adequate records of account and failure in many instances to produce vouchers for payments made by the committee made the work of audit more than usually difficult. The attention of the committee's officers was drawn to the defects of accounting, and I understand that as a result the accounting work of the committee now shows substantial improvement. In so far as local committees derive their funds from the Ministry of Pensions, they are in the position of sub-accountants of the Ministry, and their financial records are required by Statute to be accessible to officers of the Ministry. Prior notice to the committee of the intended visit of an officer of the Ministry is not required. In the case of Ealing, however, I may say that the Chairman was made fully acquainted with the accounting difficulties ascertained by the Ministry's officers, and was of considerable assistance to the Ministry in overcoming them.