Watchdog submits to review

The Audit Commission, spending watchdog for the NHS and local government, is to submit itself to a dose of its own medicine, writes Nicholas Timmins.

It announced an independent external review of its activities to be overseen by Jim Butler, chairman of the accountants and management consultants KPMG. Sir David Cooksey, the commission's chairman, predicted that the audit will find weaknesses.

The commission declared its intention of mounting such a study 18 months ago, but its announcement comes in the wake of strong criticism from local government over its recent report Paying the Piper, which criticised council manpower management and pay rates. Councils hit back, saying that the commission's own staff had doubled.