If parliament’s ever produced a theatrical success, then it’s the recently-established public accounts committee (PAC), particularly in the last few months. It has dramatically raised the salience of tax avoidance by savaging the cheating devices of multinationals Amazon, Starbucks, Apple and Google. It has pilloried the soaring costs of HS2, it has excoriated a five-year extension to the Sellafield nuclear decommissioning contract worth £5bn given to a private consortium which had been witheringly criticised for spending money ‘like confetti’, and much else.

Its judgements are well reported in the media and provoke shock and anger. But then what happens? Very little, if anything. PAC’s remit is to expose failures or breakdowns in the government’s finances, not to propose remedies or redress. But it should be, otherwise the PAC reports are all too often a one-day wonder, but with no follow-through. Continue reading →