Following the government's review of quangos and the move away from a 'centralised top-down tick-box' approach to public services, the abolition of the Audit Commission, announced on 13 August, is being cited as a logical step. But as Will Abbott of Randall & Payne, Gloucester, says, “This is perhaps a good example of when abolishing a quango to save money may only result in the work being carried out elsewhere. The government no doubt believes that using a competitive private sector will reduce costs, but perhaps the more fundamental question is how much additional scrutiny is required? Local authorities are composed of officers and elected representatives, part of whose role should be to ensure money is wisely spent .”

The Audit Commission was set up as an independent watchdog to drive economy, efficiency and effectiveness in local public services, working across local government, health, housing, community safety and fire and rescue. Their work covers appointing auditors for local public services, carrying out performance assessments and helping detect fraud and error. They also carry out research to provide independent analysis. Their ‘strong governance and public financial management’ has been applauded by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) who have pledged to work with the National Audit Office in its new role in overseeing local government audit.

The UK200Group agree that the Audit Commission filled a very important role, but feel that the 'value for money' aspect of their role must have been in question. Jonathan Russell, UK200Group vice-president: “Many of the departments which are examined by the Audit Commission would also be subject to some form of external audit and it would seem a very easy solution and not a huge expense to widen the auditor’s brief to include this role as part of that process, very much along the lines the public benefit enquiries auditors have to undertake with charity audits. This also gives the option of marrying the appropriate external providers to the roles needed, using local and regional auditors to look at local and regional provision.”

Will Abbott is concerned that, rather than local people gaining a greater stake in their community’s affairs, the work could be taken up by large national companies with no idea of local concerns: “Whilst as an auditor I would welcome the opportunity to scrutinise public expenditure for a fee, my experience is that local authorities have a tendency to set arbitrary thresholds when it comes to tendering for any type of work. The consequence is that local operators are excluded at an early stage, leaving only larger national contractors, who are arguably more expensive, to do the work.”