§ Mr. Tilleyasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many extraordinary 773W audits of local authorities have been carried out; under what powers; and if he will give details of the reasons and result on each occasion.
§ Mr. KingSince the Local Government Act 1972 came into force there have been only six directions for extraordinary audits. The powers under which these directions were given are contained in section 165 of the Local Government Act 1972. Four of the directions were to facilitate the investigation of suspected fraud, which resulted in the recovery of some £2,000. The other directions were for the purpose of enabling local government electors to make objections to items in the accounts of two authorities, which had appointed approved auditors; specific provision for a local government elector to request an extraordinary audit in these circumstances is contained in section 159 (4) of the 1972 Act. In these two cases the objections were not upheld by the district auditor, who found that the items of account concerned were lawful.
§ Mr. Tilleyasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what his estimate is of the cost to his Department of conducting an extraordinary audit into Lambeth council; and whether this cost would be met by taxpayers or ratepayers.
§ Mr. KingI cannot estimate what the cost of an extraordinary audit would be in Lambeth or in any other local authority. It would depend upon a number of factors, not least the complexity of the issues to be investigated.
Section 165 (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 requires that the expenditure incurred should be defrayed in the first instance by my right hon. Friend. However, it also empowers him to recover the whole or any proportion of that expenditure from the body concerned where he thinks this is appropriate.