Frozen out

David

Um, I'm not sure why it's considered "You coulldn't make it up" territory. The Audit Commission, like a lot similar public bodies has, since the Tory years, invested money to decrease the demand on the taxpayer.

I'm all for pulling up hypocrisy and poor administration, but this is slightly hysterical.

Bruce Robertson

David, Brighton and Hove council - not always noted for their wise ways - pulled all their deposits out of Icelandic banks over a year ago, citing the widening CDS spreads.

Tiberius

David: I think the point is irony: that Auditors should be able to spot weak banks.

David

"David, Brighton and Hove council - not always noted for their wise ways - pulled all their deposits out of Icelandic banks over a year ago"

And Westminster didn't. Like a lot of other bodies, funds and people.

"Auditors should be able to spot weak banks."

Um, only if they are the ones looking over the books of the banks in question. If the NAO was doing so, then you could point to issues.

Look, I'm just saying that this is not in "Gasp" territory, and that jumping on every little thing as if it is detracts from the ones that are. It's also poor journalism, given the evident lack of critical evaluation used.

biggestaspidistra

"Um, only if they are the ones looking over the books of the banks in question"

It was known, in the public realm, that the Icelandic banks were in trouble for perhaps ten months. Any cautious person would have avoided them, if not ten months ago then a month ago.

Cora

The people banking the Audit Commission money may not be the same people who carry out the investigations into best value for money projects.
The audit commission saves this country millions of pounds in efficiency savings across gov depts, and more than pays for itself.

Kate

The Audit Commission, the people who spend their lives auditing haven't seen the audits on these rotten banks?

You're right. You couldn't make it up.

This all gets worse. Council employees, who are paid to do a job, decided they couldn't do the job of finding a safe and secure bank and so instead outsourced this job to New Labour favourite, Capita.

They get taxpaers' money for a job they can't do to ask someone else outside the townhall what to do.

Any interest made on these deposits would have been undercut anyway by the consultancy fee Capita no doubt collected.

It it pure farce.

David

"The Audit Commission, the people who spend their lives auditing haven't seen the audits on these rotten banks? "

Why would the Audit Commission, which exists to audit the UK public sector, have performed audits on private companies from another country?

biggestaspidistra

then David, tell us this: where was common sense?

Where was prudence, where was responsibility?

cuffleyburgers

Well presumably the Audit Commission has the remit to audit investment activities where public money is concerned, therefore if a significant number of public bodies were investing in Iceland and they clearly were, then yes the Audit Commission should have had an opinion of the quality of those investments, and should as a point of simple housekeeping, something Labour have been crap at, not have its own funds in dodgy banks.

Somebody has to carry the can for this pissing away of taxpayers' money. Brown obviosuly gets a lot, but any body calling itself the audit commission and costing tens of millions a year should also get its fair share.

Hysteria

check out the Devils Kitchen on the Icesave issue - interesting stuff on why we used the Anti Terror legislation on the Iceland bank - do read the linked article too which I repeat here.......http://thejournal.parker-joseph.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/10/15/3931440.html

Pete

Asks David:

'Why would the Audit Commission, which exists to audit the UK public sector, have performed audits on private companies from another country?'

They don't have to audit the bank at all. But they do have to audit what happens to public money and where it goes.

Why did they not then ask about the safety of placing money offshore in Iceland when it was taxpayers' money?

The world and his dog knew these banks were rubbish because the media kept saying so. Go through the archives on any quality compact newspaper and alarm bells have been ringing for months.

Does the Audit Commission simply stop accounting British taxpayers' money if it goes offshore?

The town halls might as well chuck everything offshore in that case. No questions asked.