Public Accounts Committee

Google Makes Another Denial

PA | Posted 16.05.2013 | UK

Internet giant Google today denied trying to "disguise" the way its business operated to minimise its tax bill in the UK. Appearing before the Comm...

Coalition's £310 Billion Infrastructure Plan For Britain Under Fire

PA | Posted 29.04.2013 | UK Politics

MPs have voiced doubts about the credibility of the coalition's £310 billion plan for boosting Britain's infrastructure. The Public Accounts Commi...

'It Feels As If We Are Hardly Working'

PA/The Huffington Post UK | Posted 22.04.2013 | UK Politics

The senior MP who chairs a Commons spending watchdog has hit out at Parliament for "failing to provide good value for money" as politicians prepared f...

Google Defends UK Tax Bill

PA | Posted 22.04.2013 | UK Tech

Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt has defended the internet giant's tax affairs, saying the firm was playing a key role in the UK's high-tech g...

Mehdi's Morning Memo: Did Clegg And Cable Know?

Huffington Post | Mehdi Hasan | Posted 08.03.2013 | UK Politics

The ten things you need to know on Friday 8 March 2013... 1) DID CLEGG AND CABLE KNOW? They may like to think they occupy the moral high ground ...

More Prisoners Escaping As Spending Cuts Bite

The Huffington Post UK | Tom Moseley | Posted 05.03.2013 | UK

The number of prisoner escapes has increased as staffing numbers are cut, MPs have warned. Assaults on staff, suicides and self harm are also up, s...

Ned Simons

Inquisitor Of The Year, The Queen Of Select Committees

HuffingtonPost.com | Ned Simons | Posted 16.05.2013 | UK Politics

"An influential committee of MPs has said" is one of the most overused phrases by political reporters in Westminster. There are over 20 Commons select...

'My Maths Isn't Good Enough'

The Huffington Post UK | Jessica Elgot | Posted 17.01.2013 | UK

Wonga's head of regulatory and public affairs has told a committee of MPs that he could not work out the interest on a loan from his own company becau...

Public Spending Watchdog To Investigate BBC Pay-Offs

PA | Posted 26.12.2012 | UK

The public spending watchdog is to investigate BBC severance packages after it emerged almost 200 senior managers received pay-offs of more than £100...

It's Time for a Corporate Delouse

John Higginson | Posted 14.01.2013 | UK Politics
John Higginson

It is time for the government to stand up to the global corporate parasites and force them to pay up.

Business Fund Condemned As 'Scandalous' By Commons Committee

PA | Posted 11.09.2012 | UK Politics

The performance of a £1.4 billion scheme to boost growth has been branded "scandalous" by a powerful Commons committee after it found just £60 milli...

Call For Government Data 'Relevance'

PA | Posted 01.08.2012 | UK Politics

The publication of data as part of the Government's transparency agenda should be accessible and easily understood by all, a group of MPs has said. ...

Hodge Counting the Cost of High Speed Rail

Tom Wadsworth | Posted 05.09.2012 | UK Politics
Tom Wadsworth

We've had another bout of high speed rail bashing today. Margaret Hodge's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) implies that the case for HS2 - the proposed new 225mph line from London to Birmingham and beyond - is flawed. They think that the line could end up costing taxpayers like you and I much more than we've bargained for.

Doughnuts, Five Star Hotels And Airline Tickets

PA | Posted 01.06.2012 | UK Politics

Stricter rules must be introduced to stop government credit cards being open to abuse by civil servants, MPs warned today. A one-off Cabinet Office...

'Glaring Holes' In Welfare-To-Work Fraud Control

PA | Posted 15.05.2012 | UK

Ministers have been accused of leaving "glaring holes" in fraud controls on welfare-to-work firm A4e as one of its contracts was axed. The National...

London 2012: MPs Attack 'Staggering' Olympic Budget Mistakes

PA | Posted 09.03.2012 | UK Politics

MPs today expressed concern that the London 2012 Olympics may go over budget and said it was "staggering" that initial estimates about security costs ...

'Shocking' Number Of Teens With Special Needs Deprived Of Support

PA/The Huffington Post UK | Posted 24.02.2012 | UK Universities & Education

Many young people with special needs face a "life-long legacy of lost opportunities" after falling through the gap when they leave school, a report wa...

Why Whitehall Doesn't Understand About Benefits

PA/The Huffington Post UK | Posted 12.01.2012 | UK Politics

Government departments do not fully understand the overall impact of an array of different means-tested benefits on incentives to work, a cross-party ...

MPs Force Top Tax Lawyer To Give Evidence Under Oath

The Huffington Post UK | Ned Simons | Posted 07.01.2012 | UK Politics

MPs on the Commons public accounts committee flexed a rarely-used muscle on Monday, when they compelled the the top lawyer for HM Revenue and Customs ...

MPs Criticise NHS Procurement

PA | Posted 24.12.2011 | UK Politics

The procurement and management of high value equipment in the NHS is "fragmented and uncoordinated", leading to "wasted resources and variable standar...

Warning On Aid Fraud

PA | Posted 19.12.2011 | UK Politics

The amount of British aid lost to fraud and corruption could rise because of changes to how the money is targeted, an influential committee of MPs has...