§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (1) what is the average length of time taken by district auditors to respond to complaints by councillors in the latest year for which figures are available; [25709]
(2) how many cases of complaints from councillors to district auditors are outstanding; and how many of these have been outstanding since (a) 1998, (b) 1999 and (c) 2000. [25708]
§ Mr. ByersThe Audit Commission does not distinguish in its monitoring of matters raised with auditors either between statutory objections and other matters, nor between those raised by councillors and members of the public. The total number of matters raised with, and disposed of by, auditors in any one year is in excess of 100. The majority of all such matters tend to relate to small sums of money in local councils. The Audit Commission does monitor complex and high-value audit cases. There are currently 11 such cases. In six of these the auditors' investigations have been ongoing for more than two years. In the other five cases, the investigation has been on-going for less than two years.