§ Mr. PicklesTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister, how many conferences staff of the Audit Commission attended in each of the last five years; what the(a) cost and (b) purpose was in each case; and how many were overseas conferences. [113553]
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§ Yvette CooperThe costs of attending conferences are not separately recorded by the Audit Commission. These costs are included in the Commission's overall training costs, which for the last five years were as follows:
Conference attemdamce by staff of Audit Commission £million Total training costs1 1997–98 1.5 1998–99 1.7 1999–2000 2.7 2000–01 2.8 2001–02 3.6 1At constant 2001–02 prices.
§ Mr. PicklesTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many publications have been issued by the Audit Commission in each of the last five years; and what the cost was of each. [113556]
§ Yvette CooperInformation on the number of publications issued by the Audit Commission and the cost of publication over the last five years is as follows:
Number and cost of publications issued by Audit Commission Publications issued Approximate net publication costs £ million1 1997–98 50 0.35 1998–99 67 0.55 1999–2000 49 0.84 2000–01 47 0.51 2001–02 71 0.70 1At constant 2001–02 prices. The number of publications issued includes about 20 each year which are unpriced. These are items the Commission wish to disseminate widely or where the comments from stakeholders are requested, including consultation papers and the Commission's annual report. The Commission actively markets its priced publications and receives income of between £0.3 million and £0.4 million per annum from the sale of its publications. This income is used to offset partially the costs of production.
§ Mr. PicklesTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many equivalent full time employees there were in the Audit Commission,(a) when it was first established and (b) on 1 May 2003. [113557]
§ Yvette CooperThe total number of staff employed by the Audit Commission in its first full financial year, ending on 31 March 1984, was 524. The number currently employed is 2,532.
The Commission has taken on a significant number of new responsibilities since 1984. In 1990 the Commission's role was extended to include the external audit of national health service bodies. Other new responsibilities are those derived from the Local Government Act 1999 on local authority performance, including the setting up of the best value inspection service and the development of the comprehensive performance assessment process.