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Public Accounts

I am sure that it will not surprise hon. Members to hear that I was rather a swot at school. I always remember listening to the radio and hearing about the all-powerful Public Accounts Committee, so I am particularly glad to take part in the debate. I want to offer some thoughts on the way in which the PAC works and on how we may improve what we do. I pay tribute to the great support that we have received from our Clerks, Nick Wright, Emma Sawyer and the other people in the office, and to Sir John Bourn and all the civil servants at the NAO. The evidence for all the reports on the list for the debate was taken before the general election. Some of them have been approved since the election but all the real work was done before the election. Obviously, that raises the question of how timely the work of the Committee is and what we could do to improve the timeliness of the work of the NAO and the Committee itself.