Axing Audit Commission 'will save £50m'

SCRAPPING the Audit Commission would save the public purse £50m a year, MPs have heard.

Local government minister Grant Shapps told the committee future generations would look back with amazement at the decision to use a quango for public audits.

Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, also gave evidence, although he refused to say whether he agreed with plans to replace the commission with a mutual partnership.

Proponents say the structure would create a strong new competitor in the audit market and would cost just a few million a year to oversee, the responsibility for which would lie with the Financial Reporting Council and NAO.

Morse said the plan could work, but required "a strong approach, not just lip service".