Lord Barnett
Main Page: Lord Barnett (Labour - Life peer)
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, nor did the previous Government. They missed that, as well as the audit companies. The private sector can only be strengthened by having another major audit company within it and the Audit Commission will, I hope, become that. There will then be a wider market for local authorities to delve into for audit.
Lord Barnett
My Lords, given the various new bodies that will carry out the functions previously done by the Audit Commission, can the Minister say whether, before abolishing the commission, any estimate will be made about the increased or reduced cost and how that will help to do the job of auditing?
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, clearly there is more work to be done. The announcement has been made quickly so that there is no hold up or detriment to the Audit Commission. As I have said, at the moment the calculated savings are £50 million, so presumably that will also include other work to be done.