CONCLUSION
85. The majority of the evidence we received confirmed
that the Audit Commission is a well run organisation, produces
high quality work and is responsive and relatively open. Such
a body is essential to ensure genuine accountability of public
expenditure by local authorities and health bodies. Nevertheless
the Commission has a number of shortcomings and weaknesses. It
needs to change in several ways to ensure that public audit is
carried out properly and that its findings are both available
and communicated to the public. There are also a number of crucial
changes which the Government should implement to make the system
more transparent and to improve local authorities' relationships
with the local electorate. However, it is the Audit Commission's
new role, as inspector of Best Value, which causes us most concern.
86. The Government has enthusiastically embraced
a culture of inspection in relation to the majority of public
services. It is inevitable that those organisations involved in
delivering services will, at least initially, resist, or be fearful
of, an enhanced level of scrutiny and inspection. However, while
we agree that there is a need for effective regulation of local
government, we are concerned that inspection does not become an
end in itself. We therefore recommend that in the future the Government
look carefully at whether the benefits of inspection outweigh
the significant and increasing resources being committed to audit
and inspection activity.
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