Government has ‘no plans’ to investigate GDC’s finances
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- Published: Monday, 09 May 2016 07:50
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Replying to a question in the House of Lords from Lord Hunt of King’s Heath, health minister Lord Prior said that the Government took ‘a keen interest’ in the performance of the GDC and its plans for improvement. But he ruled out asking the National Audit Office to carry out a ‘value for money’ examination of the GDC’s financial management.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, Shadow Spokesperson for health in the House of Lords who has raised the issue of GDC mismanagement before has asked the Government what assessment they had made of the open letter from the British Dental Association to the GDC Chairman of April 1 on the GDC's spending on external legal advice, redundancy payments and related external services during the Professional Services Authority whistle-blowing inquiry, and what action the Government intended to take in the light of that assessment.
He further asked, in the light of the General Dental Council’s response to the British Dental Association’s Freedom of Information request of 18 March, whether the Government will ask the National Audit Office to carry out a value-for-money examination of GDC’s financial management.
Health Minister, Lord Prior of Brampton, replied that the GDC was an independent statutory body. Ministers took a keen interest in the performance of the GDC and its plans for improvement, particularly in light of the Professional Standards Authority’s performance review and publication of its investigation into concerns raised by a whistleblower. The minister continued by saying that the GDC was required under the Dentist Act 1984 to prepare a statement of accounts and for those accounts to be audited. These accounts would cover all expenditure including that during the PSA investigation. The statement of accounts and auditor’s report are then published and properly scrutinised, including being certified and reported on by the Controller and Auditor General and being laid before Parliament and the Scottish Parliament by the Privy Council.
However, Lord Prior added: ‘the Department has no plans to ask the National Audit Office to carry out a value for money examination of the GDC’s financial management.’
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