Letter from Mrs Teresa Townsley to the
Chairman of the Committee
I understand from the NIAO that you will have
sight of the NIAO's Report on or about 8 February 2006 and will
consider it at a meeting of your Committee scheduled for 13 February
2006.
Which I am of the firm view that the Audit Office
performs a very important function including its role in ensuring
that public funds are spent in an appropriate way and that there
is value for money, I do believe that some of the information
provided to the Audit Office in this case has been misleading
and in many instances incorrect.
The NIAO has indicated that they have relied
on a consultants report which has been directly challenged by
myself. This challenge was initially made in response to extracts
of this consultants report and more recently in my response to
the first draft NIAO Report received by me on 14 December 2005.
The responses made were not merely "my view" but referenced
to evidence and documents to support each response.
I asked the NIAO if they had a responsibility
to investigate and address my assertions, where those assertions
directly join issue with what purports to be the findings of a
detailed and lengthy investigation by the firm of consultants.
In their recent response to the NIAO commented, "We have
considered [her] letter point by point, where appropriate checking
documentary material and asking for further clarification from
the Department and the consultant, and reached a view on whether
or not in our opinion any particular part of the Report requires
amendment."
The final draft of this NIAO Report, which I
received on 24 January 2006, clearly shows that the invitation
to investigate my assertions and look at the related evidence
appears not to have been taken up. I am further concerned by changes
and additions to this current draft Report from the last draft
which I consider add innuendo and forms of wording which could
be misleading. I was informed by the NIAO in a letter dated 20
January 2006 that "it is not normal to engage in repeated
rounds of third part clearance". I was also informed in the
same letter to address all further correspondence regarding procedural
aspects of the Report to a London firm of solicitors.
I do not believe there has been "natural
justice" to date and I write to you, as Chairman of the Parliamentary
Committee of Public Accounts at Westminster to seek to attend
when this Report is presented and I would be willing to be questioned.
Teresa Townsley
26 January 2006
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