Audit Commission

HC Deb 08 February 1994 vol 237 cc141-2W

Mr. Jim Cunningham

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what the cost of the Audit Commission was for each year since 1989; what is the cost for the current year; what assessment he has made of performance and the results of the Audit Commission; and what value for money the Audit Commission has achieved.

Mr. Baldry

The Audit Commission has no direct cost to the Exchequer. The audit of local authorities and health service bodies and the undertaking of value for money studies is financed by fees from publicly funded bodies.

The operating costs of the commission have been as follows:

	£ million
1988–89	28.4
1989–90	33.9
1990–91	46.4
1991–92	61.6
1992–93	74.3
1993–94	176.6

¹ Estimated.

NB. 1991–92 was the first full year that the commission appointed auditors to NHS bodies.

In 1992 the commission was subject to a financial management review by its sponsors: the Department of the Environment, the Department of Health and the Welsh Office.

Copies of the report of this review, which was published on 14 January 1993, and of the commission's annual reports and accounts are available from the Library.