Redmond reluctance puts Jenrick under pressure

摘要

Whitehall officials are putting communities secretary Robert Jenrick under pressure to change course after he failed to implement a key recommendation of the Redmond Review, The MJ understands. Amid bubbling tensions and mounting pressures in the stretched audit market, senior Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) civil servants are believed to have been left surprised by their secretary of state's decision to block Sir Tony Redmond's call for an independent regulator. The Office of Local Audit and Regulation (OLAR), which has been estimated to cost £5m per year, would need legislation. Sir Tony is understood to have discussed the recommendations in his review of local audit and financial reporting-including his call for OLAR-behind the scenes prior to publication of his report, but it is thought that Mr Jenrick's mind was changed later over fears the new body would be viewed as a recreation of the Audit Commission. The Local Government Association, which has criticised the Audit Commission's 'top-down inspection regime,' warned Mr Jenrick that bringing together auditor procurement and audit regulation in one body would 'create problems' in a letter sent to him just over a month before he formally responded to Redmond.