I am extremely pleased to announce that on Monday 12th September, I was appointed to the House of Commons’ highly influential Public Accounts Committee. This is the oldest select committee in the House of Commons, dating back to 1857. It was successfully called for by Sir Francis Baring who stated the need for inquiries into the spending of public money.
The role of the Public Accounts Committee is to oversee public expenditure, ensuring that public money is spent efficiently and effectively. It further holds the Government and its civil servants to account for the delivery of public service. In addition to its role in holding the Government to account, it also scrutinises companies providing public service. My appointment to the Public Accounts Committee is a great opportunity for me to utilise my expertise and experience. I have a strong background in cost scrutiny having worked extensively in industry conducting forensic auditing on major project spending, estimating and scheduling, cost planning, and risk analysis.
The committee works within the interest of transparency and looks at how rather than why public money has been spent, focusing on value for money and ensuring companies contracted by the Government are performing efficiently.
I look forward to working on this committee, as it is a fantastic opportunity to hold those who provide public services, both the UK Government and companies with Government contracts, to account.
