The Audit Commission defends its record
The UK Audit Commission, which is to be closed by the UK government, has this weekend refuted a number of allegations suggesting that taxpayers may not be getting value for money. Eric pickles, the communities secretary, suggested that the Commission have become something of a "creature of the Whitehall state" rather than a watchdog championing the causes of the UK taxpayer. However, upon further investigation this may not be the case.
The Commission has over 2000 employees and has saved UK taxpayers millions if not billions of pounds over the years after uncovering a number of frauds and "inappropriate activity" in the local authority sector. The party believes that it has more than fulfilled its obligations and its targets since being set up back in 1983 and there are concerns that a potential £50 million a year saving could be something of a "red herring".
The government is now proposing that local authorities bring in outside parties to uncover alleged improprieties although the cost of this will obviously be met by local authority budgets. Whether this would be time efficient, never-mind financially efficient, remains to be seen but there is concern that maybe the UK government is looking at savings for savings sake while potentially ignoring the wider picture?
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