Letter to the Chairman of the Committee
from the Comptroller and Auditor General, National Audit Office,
dated 20 July 2006
BRITISH COUNCIL
Dear Chairman,
In its recent report on Public Diplomacy, your
Committee recommended that the National Audit Office consider
a further value for money report on the British Council. My purpose
in writing to you now is to confirm that I do plan to undertake
a study along the lines you suggest and to outline the way forward.
My staff have held initial discussions with
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the British Council and your
Clerk to identify how best we can deliver a study to address the
issues your Committee raised. As we undertake detailed planning
and scoping work for the study, we would, of course, like to be
able to draw informally on the expertise of your Committee, and
I have asked the Director responsible, Tim Banfield, to get in
touch with your Clerk after the summer recess, to work out how
best to take this forward.
Regarding timing, I understand that the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office are commissioning an external review of
performance measurement across the field of Public Diplomacy,
following which the British Council expects to amend the ways
in which it assesses its own performance. I intend to let these
changes work through over the next few months, before starting
my examination in the first half of next year.
Finally, I should add that our longstanding
audit of the Council's financial statements will of course continue,
including assessment of the Council's systems of internal control,
both in the UK and overseas.
Sir John Bourn KCB
Comptroller and Auditor General
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