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Public Accounts

This is the first time that I have taken part in a debate on the work of the Public Accounts Committee. Indeed, I am a new member, having only recently joined the Committee. I am extremely pleased to be on the PAC. From the short time that I have been on it, I sense that it is a Committee whose members think, act and speak foremost as Members of the legislature; only secondarily do they take account of slightly more partisan considerations. The work of the PAC is immensely important. The Government spend many billions of pounds and run vast public procurement contracts. Enormous quantities of our constituents' money are spent. Ensuring that that money is spent wisely and without waste is vital. The work of the Public Accounts Committee, which is to conduct, in effect, retrospective audits, is all the more important precisely because Parliament no longer does its job of—to use the quaint phrase—approving supply properly. Sure, we vote on estimates and Budgets and we have that ritual called Budget day, but that does not amount to proper scrutiny of how the Executive spend taxpayers' money. Indeed, it took almost a whole year for some Members of this legislature to realise fully what was in one of the Budgets when it came to 10p tax rates. This House rubber-stamps Government expenditure; we no longer control it. This House approves Executive expenditure more in theory than in practice. As I read through the list of PAC reports, I reflect on how once this House properly scrutinised how the Executive use taxpayers' money. There was once genuine scrutiny.