Government audits to safeguard public funds
Chancellor Gordon Brown is expanding audit and inspection across government in a determined bid to ensure the cash he is pouring into public services is not wasted.
He told MPs in his Spending Review statement: ‘We have a special duty to make sure public money is spent efficiently and we are as determined to secure value for money as we are to secure money for services.’
Brown said he was publishing new Public Service Agreements setting out agreed outcome targets and reforms for each department.
He said: ‘With independent audit and statutory inspection, departments and agencies will be fully accountable for performance against targets.’
‘In addition to the new Police Standards Unit, we are creating the new Health and Social Care Inspectorates and a reformed Criminal Justice System inspection regime and a single housing inspectorate,’ Brown added.
