Work in 2014
12. The Commission held three formal meetings during
2014: on 18 March, 6 November and 2 December. Formal minutes of
these meetings are reproduced in Annex A. Annex B lists the supporting
documentation that is available from the Parliament website. Oral
evidence from witnesses was taken in public at the meetings on
18 March and 2 December. These hearings were also webcast via
a link on the Parliament website.
13. Eight Parliamentary Questions were tabled to
the Chairman of the Public Accounts Commission during 2014 of
which three were answered orally.
14. On 18 March, the Commission considered the NAO's
Estimate for 2014/15. The Commission received observations from
HM Treasury including a suggestion that the Commission explore
the scale of the NAO's spending on non-statutory functions, and
drawing attention to the additional financial savings being demanded
of many government departments. Oral evidence was taken from the
Comptroller and Auditor General (Sir Amyas Morse), the Chairman
of the NAO (Sir Andrew Likierman) and its Chief Operating Officer
(Mr Michael Whitehouse). After deliberating, the Commission agreed
to provide the Estimate requested by the NAO. The Commission also
approved the appointment of Crowe Clark Whitehill as the NAO's
auditors for the financial year 2014/15.
15. On 6 November, the Commission met in private
to consider a recommendation from the NAO Chair for the appointment
of three new external members of the NAO Board. The meeting was
adjourned without reaching a conclusion, with the matter held
over to the following meeting.
16. On 2 December, the Commission resumed its private
discussion on the appointment of the new external members of the
NAO Board. On the recommendation of the Chair of the Board, the
Commission appointed Rob Sykes, Joanna Shaw and Ray Shostak as
non-executive members of the NAO Board with effect from 1 January
2015 for initial terms ending on 31 December 2017. These
members replace Paula Hay-Plumb and Dame Mary Keegan whose terms
ended on 31 December 2014, and Gillian Guy who had notified the
Commission of her intention to resign on 28 October. The Commission
agreed that remuneration for the new appointees should be in-line
with that for the existing non-executive members of the NAO Board.
The Commission also agreed that, in future, it would like nominees
to attend the Commission prior to their appointment being confirmed.
17. The Commission then moved into public session
to consider the NAO's Strategy for 2015/16 to 2017/18. Evidence
was again taken from the Comptroller and Auditor General, the
Chairman of the NAO and its Chief Operating Officer. The Commission
also received written observations from HM Treasury. Areas that
were considered in detail during questioning included: the public
expenditure context and the savings made by the NAO since 2010;
pay and staff retention; new responsibilities being taken on by
the NAO including some inherited from the Audit Commission; and
how the NAO measured its performance. The Commission approved
the strategy without modification.
18. The Commission also approved the appointment
of Crowe Clark Whitehill as the NAO's auditors for the financial
years 2015/16 and 2016/17, and agreed to lay before the House
of Commons the annual value for money (VFM) report on the NAO
by its auditors. The 2014 VFM report looked at the implementation
of the NAO's Transformation Programme.[2]
19. The Commission noted that it was Sir Andrew Likierman's
final appearance as Chair of the NAO Board. The Commission thanked
Sir Andrew for his leadership of the Board and his support for
the Commission, and looked forward to working with his successor,
Lord Bichard, whose term of office was due to commence on 10 January
2015.
2 Value For Money Report 2014: Transformation,
HC 855 2014-15 Back
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