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Public Accounts

It is a great pleasure to spend three or four minutes thanking all those who have taken part in what has been a good debate. It is always pleasant to take a three-hour break from the normal partisanship of the House, and try to get to grips in a completely non-partisan way—not mentioning the political debate at all—with how the public sector works. I am grateful to all those who have taken part in the Back-Bench debate, which was opened by my friend the hon. Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell). He is such an honest man that when he came forth with a figure and it was proved wrong, he just admitted that it was his own concoction. I wish we were all so honest when we made mistakes in this place. He made a serious point that the trouble with Whitehall is that there is no settled culture—not just continuous policy changes, but a continuous driving through of Gershon, which makes it difficult to get to grips with efficiency savings. His wise words should be remembered. The hon. Member for Southport (Dr. Pugh), who is a valued member of the Committee, made one of the great understatements of the year—that public servants lack the incentive of private citizens in husbanding resources. You can say that again. We do our best to try to help public servants to be just as good as private citizens in husbanding resources. His wise words about the GP contract will be engraved in the heart of any future Government in dealing with a powerful public sector trade union, which is all that the British Medical Association is. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Angela Browning) for her contribution. She made an important point about the problem of change continually recurring, and project management. We have made a difference, as the Exchequer Secretary mentioned, in trying to ensure that all finance directors are professionally qualified. I have tried to make the focus on project management a theme of my chairmanship. I believe that so many of our mistakes are made because we drive through change too quickly. I say to the Exchequer Secretary that we try to have a balance and give praise—we are not just Jeremiahs. My press release on the roll-out of prison procurement this week was very laudatory of the Department. Where such procurements work well, they are delivered slowly, with piloting, and are not continuous changes. My hon. Friend's point about the need for more training is important. My hon. Friend the Member for Harwich (Mr. Carswell) made a dynamic, young man's speech. He reminded me of my early days as an ardent Thatcherite. All I can do now is go to bed with the collected speeches of Sarah Palin—not a very thick volume. My hon. Friend keeps us all on our toes, and it is good to have him on the Committee. He made the point that when the oversight of Parliament has become so weak in respect of the whole budget process, the audit process is even more important. That is why the Committee's work is so important. Of course we all love the hon. Member for Glasgow, South-West (Mr. Davidson) and his critiques of the royal family, public schools and the rest, and we are very grateful for what he says. We are also very grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for South Norfolk (Mr. Bacon). Lastly, we are grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Hammersmith and Fulham (Mr. Hands). The PAC model has spread throughout the Commonwealth, and I think we should be extremely proud of it. We are proud of our work. We do try to make a difference, and we hope that at the end of the day we save taxpayers money. Question put and agreed to. Resolved,"That this House takes note of the 30th, the 36th, the 39th to the 41st, the 43rd to the 49th, the 51st and the 57th Reports of the Committee of Public Accounts of Session 2007-08, and of the Treasury Minutes on those Reports (Cm 7493, 7522 and 7545)."