§ Mr. Kirkwoodasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will list in the Official Report those family practitioner committees which have been criticised by his Department's director of audit or other officials from his Department for having made insufficient provision for internal audit; whether he will estimate the annual expenditure necessary to remedy those identified shortcomings; and whether he will now revise his earlier view that internal audit for family practitioner committees should not attract additional Government funding.
§ Mr. Hayhoe[pursuant to his reply, 17 December 1985, c. 153–4]: I regret that the second page of my answer was omitted. The full text was as follows:
In their preliminary review of the accounts of Family Practitioner Committees for the financial year 1985–86 Statutory Auditors have, to date, issued reports on the inadequate provision for internal audit at the following Committees:
- Oxfordshire FPC
- Suffolk FPC
- Cambridgeshire FPC
- Norfolk FPC
- Buckinghamshire FPC
- Coventry FPC
- Staffordshire FPC
- Birmingham FPC
- Walsall FPC
- Solihull FPC
- Dudley FPC
- Warwickshire FPC
- Wolverhampton FPC
- Sandwell FPC
- Shropshire FPC
Following their examination of the accounts for 1984–85, the last year for which responsibility for the provision of internal audit services to Family Practitioner Committees lay with the linked District Health Authority, Statutory Auditors commented on the inadequacy of such services at the following authorities:
- Huddersfield HA — in respect of Kirklees FPC
- North Lincolnshire HA — in respect of Lincolnshire FPC
- Wakefield HA — in respect of Wakefield FPC
- Doncaster HA — in respect of Doncaster FPC
- Chichester HA — in respect of West Sussex FPC
- Wirral HA — in respect of Wirral FPC
- St. Helens and Knowsley HA — in respect of St. Helens and Knowsley FPC
- Isle of Wight HA— in respect of Isle of Wight FPC
- Cornwall and Isles of Scilly HA— in respect of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly FPC
- City and Hackney HA — in respect of City and East London FPC
- South Sefton HA — in respect of Sefton FPC
The expenditure necessary to remedy shortcomings in internal audit depends on the assessment by individual FPCs of their needs and on decisions they take on the way that these needs should be met.All relevant burdens on FPCs will, however, be taken into account in the distribution of the limited resources available to FPCs for 1986–87. Consideration will be given to whether any financial help can be provided to FPCs with little or no current internal audit resources.