Legal

Select committees are looking for a proper argument

Vince Cable has ignored the advice of the Commons’ Business, Innovation and Skills Committee and appointed Professor Les Ebdon as director of fair access to higher education.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) should introduce new legislation to make it easier for families to settle the affairs of missing relatives, the Justice Select Committee has said.

Departmental select committee chairs have provided mixed reviews of the departments they scrutinise for a Civil Service World Special Report, which has found that 40 per cent of them are dissatisfied with departments’ responses to their reports.

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chair Margaret Hodge yesterday welcomed the publication of the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA), calling them a “major step forward in improving transparency and accountability.”

Finance skills should be central to the civil service reforms now being developed by head of the civil service Sir Bob Kerslake, the head of the government finance profession has said. Speaking in a CSW interview, Department of Health finance chief Richard Douglas said: “I’m hoping and expecting that Bob Kerslake will take [finance skills] forward as a key plank of civil service reform.”

National Audit Office chief Amyas Morse has raised concerns about the quality of data departments will receive under new systems designed to ensure accountability in devolved service provision.

All departments, agencies and non-departmental bodies will have to commission private companies to conduct ‘spend-recovery’ accounts in search of fraudulent or mistaken payments, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude announced on Monday at the launch of the government’s Fraud and Error Strategy.

Officials must fulfil their duty to challenge poor policies

The new leadership arrangements at the top of the civil service should be reviewed within six months, the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) has said.

Sir Gus O'Donnell will meet with public accounts committee chair Margaret Hodge following an evidence session in which she raised concerns over the accountability of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).