Written evidence submitted by Amyas Morse,
Comptroller and Auditor General, National Audit Office
Thank you for your letter of 23 November seeking
my views on the suggestion that the National Audit Office might
assist your Committee, should you decide to take over some or
all of the watchdog role currently undertaken by the Sustainable
Development Commission whose funding from Defra is being withdrawn.
You kindly acknowledged in your letter the support
we have provided to the Committee over many years and we hope
to continue to assist the Committee with its inquiries. Should
the Committee take on a broader remit, we would seek to support
it across the range of its activities where we can provide relevant
skills and knowledge. I am not, however, in a position to enter
into binding long term commitments, or to take on functions which
the Government has decided it should no longer fund. Accordingly,
the Committee's decision about what role it takes on should not
be predicated on receiving additional National Audit Office support
for this purpose. I will ask my teams to continue to consider
each request for assistance individually, to determine how we
could provide support, and to assess whether we have resources
available to meet the Committee's requirements.
I am copying this letter to Margaret Hodge, Chair
of the Committee of Public Accounts.
3 December 2010
|
