Public Accounts Committee
From SR
History and Roles
The Committee of Public Accounts is appointed by the House of Commons. Following the passing of the National Audit Act 1983, the main work of the Committee has been the examination of the Reports made by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) on his value for money (VFM) studies of the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which Government Departments and other bodies have used their resources to further their objectives. About two-thirds of these reports, of which there are around 60 a year, are taken up by the Committee, either by taking oral evidence or occasionally by sending written questions to the Government departments concerned. The Committee's objective is to draw lessons from past successes and failures which can be applied to future activity by the department examined or more generally.
The Committee does not consider the formulation or merits of policy (which fall within the scope of departmental select commitees); rather it focuses on value-for-money criteria which are based on:
- economy: the minimising of costs of resources used for an activity, having regard to appropriate quality
- efficiency: the relationship between the output in terms of goods, services or other results and the resources used to produce them
- effectiveness: the relationship between the intended impact and the actual impact of an activity or product
Structure
The Committee consists of sixteen members, of whom a quorum is four. The members are nominated at the beginning of each Parliament on the basis of a motion made by a Government minister, after consultation with the Opposition. Changes in membership are made from time to time during the Parliament, often because Members have become Ministers or front-bench opposition spokesmen.
The party proportions of the Committee, like other committees, are the same as in the House, and at present this gives 9 Labour members, 5 Conservative members, and 2 minority party members (at present from the Liberal Democrats). One of the members is the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, who does not normally attend. The Committee chooses its own chairman, traditionally an Opposition member, usually with previous experience as a Treasury minister. Divisions in the Committee are very rare, generally occurring less than once a year.
