Ed Humpherson
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199593170
- eISBN:
- 9780191595660
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199593170.003.0013
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
This chapter considers a major phenomenon in the regulatory state, which is all too easily glossed over — the role of ‘bureaucratic regulation’ of public bodies by other public bodies. A prime ...
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This chapter considers a major phenomenon in the regulatory state, which is all too easily glossed over — the role of ‘bureaucratic regulation’ of public bodies by other public bodies. A prime concern is the instruments of the so-called ‘audit culture’ which has flourished in the UK under successive governments. The chapter gives an insider's view of the role of the National Audit Office in scrutinizing the workings of the regulatory reform agenda, with particular reference to the fashionable tools of impact assessment and risk-based evaluation. In so doing, it emphasizes the empowering of parliamentary scrutiny through reports on (lack of) value for money to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee. It also emphasizes the importance of the work in terms of the economic footprint of regulation.Less
This chapter considers a major phenomenon in the regulatory state, which is all too easily glossed over — the role of ‘bureaucratic regulation’ of public bodies by other public bodies. A prime concern is the instruments of the so-called ‘audit culture’ which has flourished in the UK under successive governments. The chapter gives an insider's view of the role of the National Audit Office in scrutinizing the workings of the regulatory reform agenda, with particular reference to the fashionable tools of impact assessment and risk-based evaluation. In so doing, it emphasizes the empowering of parliamentary scrutiny through reports on (lack of) value for money to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee. It also emphasizes the importance of the work in terms of the economic footprint of regulation.
Terence Daintith and Alan Page
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198268703
- eISBN:
- 9780191683558
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198268703.003.0006
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
This chapter discusses the conceptual apparatus of control: the status of the rules on which control is based, and the key concepts around which it is articulated. It also explains how the spending ...
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This chapter discusses the conceptual apparatus of control: the status of the rules on which control is based, and the key concepts around which it is articulated. It also explains how the spending patterns set by the Public Expenditure Survey (PES) and the supply cycle are monitored and controlled by the Treasury, through authorizations and delegations on the one hand and through PES-derived mechanisms of cash control on the other. Then, it considers the way in which internal Treasury controls relate to those exercisable by Parliament (and on its behalf by the National Audit Office (NAO)), and by the courts. It is stated that the structure that has been described appears as a ‘mixed’ system of departmentally and centrally provided legal services. In order to conclude the structural survey, it first needs to look more closely at the history and status of the Law Officers, the most visible agents of central control and co-ordination.Less
This chapter discusses the conceptual apparatus of control: the status of the rules on which control is based, and the key concepts around which it is articulated. It also explains how the spending patterns set by the Public Expenditure Survey (PES) and the supply cycle are monitored and controlled by the Treasury, through authorizations and delegations on the one hand and through PES-derived mechanisms of cash control on the other. Then, it considers the way in which internal Treasury controls relate to those exercisable by Parliament (and on its behalf by the National Audit Office (NAO)), and by the courts. It is stated that the structure that has been described appears as a ‘mixed’ system of departmentally and centrally provided legal services. In order to conclude the structural survey, it first needs to look more closely at the history and status of the Law Officers, the most visible agents of central control and co-ordination.
David Dewar and Warwick Funnell
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198790310
- eISBN:
- 9780191831645
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198790310.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Business History, Finance, Accounting, and Banking
The book provides a history of the origins and development of the institutions and practices of British public sector audit, which are meant to ensure the financial accountability of the Executive to ...
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The book provides a history of the origins and development of the institutions and practices of British public sector audit, which are meant to ensure the financial accountability of the Executive to Parliament. From the eleventh century, better accountability often depended on a combination of opportunism and determination against a background of wider developments in constitutional and political manoeuvring. Until the nineteenth century there was a persistent determination by the ruling monarch to resist greater financial accountability to Parliament. Thus, a primary concern is the political forces that drove improvement but also that often sought to deny Parliament the ability to ensure the financial and, hence, constitutional accountability of the Executive. An especially important contribution of the book is the prominence given to the current mandate and challenges faced by the National Audit Office, especially the major challenges to the constitutional authority of the Comptroller and Auditor General in the modern public sector environment. The book has been written to coincide with the 150th anniversary in 2016 of the passage of the 1866 Audit Act, which is the basis of modern central government audit in Britain and other Westminster democracies. The importance of this event and of the expected contributions of the book have been recognized by the present Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir Amyas Morse, who has provided the Foreword to the book.Less
The book provides a history of the origins and development of the institutions and practices of British public sector audit, which are meant to ensure the financial accountability of the Executive to Parliament. From the eleventh century, better accountability often depended on a combination of opportunism and determination against a background of wider developments in constitutional and political manoeuvring. Until the nineteenth century there was a persistent determination by the ruling monarch to resist greater financial accountability to Parliament. Thus, a primary concern is the political forces that drove improvement but also that often sought to deny Parliament the ability to ensure the financial and, hence, constitutional accountability of the Executive. An especially important contribution of the book is the prominence given to the current mandate and challenges faced by the National Audit Office, especially the major challenges to the constitutional authority of the Comptroller and Auditor General in the modern public sector environment. The book has been written to coincide with the 150th anniversary in 2016 of the passage of the 1866 Audit Act, which is the basis of modern central government audit in Britain and other Westminster democracies. The importance of this event and of the expected contributions of the book have been recognized by the present Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir Amyas Morse, who has provided the Foreword to the book.
