London Councils’ Conservative Group Leader, Cllr. Edward Lister, has welcomed the announcement by Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government, that the Audit Commission is to be
scrapped.
Cllr. Lister said:
“The scrapping of the Audit Commission is extremely welcome news. Eric Pickles’ announcement will help our town halls reduce their annual audit bills by injecting greater market competition into the whole audit process. Furthermore, by refocusing the role of audit to determine whether taxpayers’ money is being spent effectively rather than whether councils are ticking central government’s boxes, this decision will generate better value for money from our local public services.
“Eric Pickles’s announcement to scrap the Audit Commission, when added to his recent decision to scrap the Comprehensive Area Assessment scheme, underlines the new government’s determination to ditch the last Labour government’s culture of targets and centralised control in favour of greater localism. Eric Pickles should be applauded for scrapping the last government’s bureaucratic red-tape, top-down, and tick-box approach to performance management that stifled innovation, driving up costs whilst ignoring local needs.”
“Eric Pickles’ abolition of the Audit Commission is another step in the Conservatives’ localism revolution: greater local choice, transparency over spending and accountability will only improve outcomes for our residents and taxpayers.”