PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
Rigorous scrutiny of expenditure is vital to increase trust in the political process
executive government; an under-resourced supreme audit institution; an inadequate statutory framework;
unresponsive media; these are issues with which we know many of our PAC colleagues across the Commonwealth will be painfully familiar. Sharing best practice and personal experience of these common challenges can hugely improve our ability to respond to them and thereby enhance our work as PAC members.
The Westminster Workshop series, organised by the CPA UK branch and now entering its fifth year, has demonstrated the practical value of knowledge- sharing and capacity-building programmes for PAC Members. At the most recent Westminster Workshop in London in June 2014, an informal steering committee of PAC members
and clerks interested in these issues, of which we are co-chairs, met to initiate a Commonwealth Association of Public Accounts Committees (CAPAC). We envisage that CAPAC will, among other things, provide support to existing regional PAC networks, produce learning resources for dissemination to parliaments, produce technical co-operation programmes specifically aimed at PACs and arrange regular contact between PACs. Still in its nascent stages,
CAPAC’s steering committee met again in January 2015 in London to scope in greater detail the objectives, functions, as well as organisational structure and membership for the association. The outcomes of the discussions will form a basis for a draft CAPAC Constitution to be presented
for endorsement by national PAC representatives attending the fifth Westminster Workshop later in the year. These representatives will also elect a new Executive Committee to replace the steering group and lead the future development of CAPAC.
We hope that by the time of the CHOGM, in November 2015, in Malta, the Heads of Government will reaffirm their November 2013 declaration, recognising that effective steps are being taken through CAPAC to strengthen PACs across the Commonwealth. We believe CAPAC will be a vital tool for realising the Heads of Government’s declaration on PACs, and that it can contribute greatly to the promotion of good governance in Commonwealth countries.
“In order to keep pace with this fast-changing landscape of public
administration, PACs must
constantly adapt and improve performance to continue to realise their purpose of good governance and accountability.”
The Parliamentarian | 2015: Issue One | 29
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