§ Mr. Heddleasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether Her Majesty's Government will monitor the compliance of local authorities with recommendations of the Audit Commission.
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§ Mr. WaldegraveIt is for local councillors and the auditors themselves to monitor the response of an individual authority to recommendations that are made in an individual audit report on that authority; and the Government have no locus in this.
As to general reports on value for money issues made by the Audit Commission, the Government will naturally be interested to see how local government responds. The nature of the Government's interest, and the extent to which Departments may wish to follow up the implications of particular Audit Commission recommendations will depend on the subject matter of each report. I do not envisage any general system for monitoring local authorities' response in detail.