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Public Accounts

I shall be brief because I want to touch on only two specific issues, but it would be remiss if, before I attended to them, I did not congratulate my colleague, the Chairman of the Committee, with whom I have had a good working relationship as a senior member. We understand each other's thinking very well. I should also say how much I value his commitment to the Committee. The same must be said for my other Committee colleagues. Not many Committees have to cope with 60 pages of briefing twice a week and it takes a great deal of dedication to put in the time that they do, with as much enthusiasm as they have. I, like the Chairman, express my thanks to the National Audit Office for the quality of its reports, and for the service and benefits that it provides to the taxpayer. Each year, it saves eight times its annual budget, and that will increase to nine times next year. I cannot think of anyone else who can claim a record equal to that. I have touched on both of my two issues before, so these are follow-ups. I want to know what is happening in each area. In our previous debate, in April, I raised the issue of child obesity. We were told that schools are weighing children every year and checking for signs of obesity. The local health authority, the council and Departments could be told about problems, but we were astonished to find that parents could not. It was ludicrous that the relevant advisory committee described it as unethical to tell the parents, because back-up facilities in the community might not be available. That sounded more like a cover-up than a logical explanation. When I last raised the matter, I received a friendly and understanding response from the Minister. It was followed by a letter from the Department in which it indicated that it took the same view as the Committee—that parents had the right to know—and that it would take steps to introduce such a requirement. Months later, however, I still do not know where we are. On the 8 o'clock news the day before yesterday, it was suggested that Ministers might make some recommendations on the issue. When the Minister replies to the debate, will she be able to provide some up-to-date information? My other issue is strongly shared by all members of the PAC—indeed, by everyone who has ever been a member as far as I can remember: the BBC, which is the beneficiary of a tax on virtually every household in the country, is the one public organisation in receipt of taxpayers' money that is not accountable to the National Audit Office and, therefore, to the PAC. The Government, for some misconceived reason, say that the BBC cannot be audited because that would imperil its independence. That was repeated at our hearing in June. I put it to Mr. Peat from the BBC that "““your grounds for objection in the past””—" to such oversight—"““have always been fear of interference in editorial independence.””" He agreed:"““Yes, there must be no perception of any risk to that independence.””" I pointed out that the BBC World Service had been accountable to the NAO and the Committee for decades and that the last time representatives appeared before us I had asked the accounting officer whether, in her many years in the job, she could recollect any occasion on which the NAO or PAC had tried to interfere in editorial content. She said no, but that did not seem to matter to the BBC.