LONDON – Two Government members of the Public Accounts Committee are in London this week to discern how they and other members can work better to ensure public spending and delivery of services is effective and efficient.

Deputy Speaker Hon. Bernie Bush and Councillor Austin Harris are attending the 6th Annual Public Accounts Committees Symposium and Workshop.

The symposium brings together members of regional and national Public Accounts committees from across the Commonwealth and British Overseas Territories to equip them with knowledge and practical experience to ensure government expenditures are effective, economical and efficient.

“The primary role of the PAC is to provide financial scrutiny, in conjunction with the Auditor General’s Office, of Government spending,” said Councillor Harris. “Its work is essential to building public trust; therefore, attending workshops like these enables PAC members to better understand the complex accounts it scrutinises in order to ensure both accountability and value for money.”

The symposium, which runs from October 15 to 19, covers areas such as scrutiny of public accounts, building an efficient working relationship between the PAC and audit institutions, fostering an environment of value for money, how to measure the efficiency of private and public sector companies that provide services to the public, and assessing the impact of the Public Accounts Committees while holding stakeholders to account.

Delegates from Kenya, Ghana, the Solomon Islands, Australia, Tonga, the United Kingdom and the Cayman Islands are in attendance and are being hosted by the International Centre for Parliamentary Studies.