5 Conclusion
58. The past year has been a turbulent one for
the department we scrutinise, Communities and Local Government.
As the Permanent Secretary suggested when he recently gave evidence
on the Department's Annual Report for 2008, few departments' programmes
can have been as significantly affected by the economic downturn
as those of CLG.[45]
The effects of the downturn have been seen in our work, too: in
particular in our inquiry into the lessons of the potential loss
of up to £1bn of local authority cash in the failed Icelandic
banks; and as we continue to scrutinise the Department's response
to the effect of the credit crunch on its housing policy. It is
important that we remain responsive to the wider economic and
political climate, but also that we continue to look across the
range of the Department's work for areas of administration, policy
and expenditure which merit closer scrutiny. We have done so this
year; and expect to continue doing so, influencing the administration,
expenditure and policy of this Department for the good of the
people we represent.
45 HC 1038-i, Q144. Back
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