Public Accounts Committee (United Kingdom) should not be confused with Political Action Committee.
The Committee of Public Accounts is a select committee of the British House of Commons. It is responsible for overseeing government expenditures, and to ensure they are effective and honest. The committee is seen as a crucial mechanism for ensuring transparency and accountability in government financial operations, having been described by Professor the Lord Hennessy as "the queen of the select committees...[which] by its very existence exert[s] a cleansing effect in all government departments".[1]
The recommendation for the creation of a committee to oversee government accounts was first put forward in 1857 by a small group of interested Members of Parliament led by Sir Francis Baring. The structure and function of the PAC date back to reforms initiated by William Ewart Gladstone, when he was British Chancellor of the Exchequer in the 1860s. The first Public Accounts Committee was established in 1862 by a resolution of the British House of Commons:
There shall be a standing committee designated "The Committee of Public Accounts"; for the examination of the Accounts showing the appropriation of sums granted by Parliament to meet the Public Expenditure, to consist of nine members, who shall be nominated at the commencement of every Session, and of whom five shall be a quorum.[2]
The form has since been replicated in virtually all Commonwealth of Nations and many non-Commonwealth countries. A minister from His Majesty's Treasury sits on the committee but, by convention, does not attend hearings. The Chair of the committee is always drawn from the main opposition party and is usually a former senior Minister.
The Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866 appointed The Committee of Public Accounts to oversee the work of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG)[3] The Committee continues to be assisted by the C&AG who is a permanent witness at its hearings, along with his staff of the National Audit Office, who provide briefings on each report and assist in the preparation of the Committee's own reports.
The Committee's members as of December 2023 are as follows:[4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
| Member | Party | Constituency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dame Meg Hillier DBE MP (Chair) | Labour and Co-operative Party | Hackney South and Shoreditch | |
| Gary Sambrook MP | Conservative Party | Birmingham Northfield | |
| Dan Carden MP | Labour Party | Liverpool Walton | |
| Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP | Conservative Party | The Cotswolds | |
| Mark Francois MP | Conservative Party | Rayleigh and Wickford | |
| Ben Lake MP | Plaid Cymru | Ceredigion | |
| Olivia Blake MP | Labour Party | ||
| Jonathan Djanogly MP | Conservative Party | Huntingdon | |
| Sir Jeremy Quin MP | Conservative Party | Horsham | |
| Flick Drummond MP | Conservative Party | Meon Valley | |
| Sarah Olney MP | Liberal Democrats | Richmond Park | |
| Sarah Owen MP | Labour Party | Luton North | |
| Anne Marie Morris MP | Conservative Party | Newton Abbot | |
| Paula Barker MP | Labour Party | ||
| Gareth Davies MP | Conservative Party | Grantham and Stamford | |
| Peter Grant MP | Scottish National Party | Glenrothes | |
The chair was elected on 12 July 2017, with members being announced on 11 September 2017.[11] [12]
| Member | Party | Constituency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meg Hillier MP (Chair) | Labour and Co-op | Hackney South and Shoreditch | |
| Bim Afolami MP | Conservative | Hitchin and Harpenden | |
| Heidi Allen MP | Conservative | South Cambridgeshire | |
| Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP | Conservative | The Cotswolds | |
| Martyn Day MP | SNP | Linlithgow and East Falkirk | |
| Chris Evans MP | Labour and Co-op | Islwyn | |
| Caroline Flint MP | Labour | Don Valley | |
| Luke Graham MP | Conservative | Ochil and South Perthshire | |
| Andrew Jones MP | Conservative | Harrogate and Knaresborough | |
| Gillian Keegan MP | Conservative | Chichester | |
| Shabana Mahmood MP | Labour | Birmingham Ladywood | |
| Nigel Mills MP | Conservative | Amber Valley | |
| Layla Moran MP | Liberal Democrats | Oxford West and Abingdon | |
| Bridget Phillipson MP | Labour | Houghton and Sunderland South | |
| Gareth Snell MP | Labour and Co-op | Stoke-on-Trent Central | |
| Date | Outgoing Member & Party | Constituency | → | New Member & Party | Constituency | Source | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 February 2018 | Andrew Jones MP (Conservative) | Harrogate and Knaresborough | → | Robert Jenrick MP (Conservative) | Newark | Hansard | |||
| 20 February 2018 | Heidi Allen MP (Conservative) | South Cambridgeshire | → | Anne Marie Morris MP (Conservative) | Newton Abbot | Hansard | |||
| Nigel Mills MP (Conservative) | Amber Valley | Lee Rowley MP (Conservative) | North East Derbyshire | ||||||
| 9 July 2018 | Martyn Day MP (SNP) | Linlithgow and East Falkirk | → | Douglas Chapman MP (SNP) | Dunfermline and West Fife | Hansard | |||
| 22 October 2018 | Bim Afolami MP (Conservative) | Hitchin and Harpenden | → | Chris Davies MP (Conservative) | Brecon and Radnorshire | Hansard | |||
| Luke Graham MP (Conservative) | Ochil and South Perthshire | Nigel Mills MP (Conservative) | Amber Valley | ||||||
| 3 December 2018 | Gillian Keegan MP (Conservative) | Chichester | → | Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP (Conservative) | Berwick-upon-Tweed | Hansard | |||
| 21 June 2019 | Chris Davies MP (Conservative) | Brecon and Radnorshire | → | Vacant | Recall of member from Parliament[13] | ||||
The chair was elected on 18 June 2015, with members being announced on 7 July 2015.[14] [15]
| Member | Party | Constituency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meg Hillier MP (Chair) | Labour and Co-op | Hackney South and Shoreditch | |
| Richard Bacon MP | Conservative | South Norfolk | |
| Harriett Baldwin MP | Conservative | West Worcestershire | |
| Deidre Brock MP | SNP | Edinburgh North and Leith | |
| Kevin Foster MP | Conservative | Torbay | |
| Stewart Jackson MP | Conservative | Peterborough | |
| Clive Lewis MP | Labour | Norwich South | |
| Nigel Mills MP | Conservative | Amber Valley | |
| David Mowat MP | Conservative | Warrington South | |
| Teresa Pearce MP | Labour | Erith and Thamesmead | |
| Stephen Phillips MP | Conservative | Sleaford and North Hykeham | |
| John Pugh MP | Liberal Democrats | Southport | |
| Nick Smith MP | Labour | Blaenau Gwent | |
| Karin Smyth MP | Labour | Bristol South | |
| Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP | Conservative | Berwick-upon-Tweed | |
| Date | Outgoing Member & Party | Constituency | → | New Member & Party | Constituency | Source | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 October 2015 | Clive Lewis MP (Labour) | Norwich South | → | Chris Evans MP (Labour and Co-op) | Islwyn | Hansard | |||
| Teresa Pearce MP (Labour) | Erith and Thamesmead | Caroline Flint MP (Labour) | Don Valley | ||||||
| Nick Smith MP (Labour) | Blaenau Gwent | Bridget Phillipson MP (Labour) | Houghton and Sunderland South | ||||||
| 12 September 2016 | Deidre Brock MP (SNP) | Edinburgh North and Leith | → | Phil Boswell MP (SNP) | Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill | Hansard | |||
| 10 October 2016 | Harriett Baldwin MP (Conservative) | West Worcestershire | → | Simon Kirby MP (Conservative) | Brighton Kemptown | Hansard | |||
| 31 October 2016 | Stewart Jackson MP (Conservative) | Peterborough | → | Charlie Elphicke MP (Conservative) | Dover | Hansard | |||
| David Mowat MP (Conservative) | Brighton Kemptown | Kwasi Kwarteng MP (Conservative) | Spelthorne | ||||||
| 4 November 2016 | Stephen Phillips MP (Conservative) | Sleaford and North Hykeham | → | Vacant | Resignation of member from Parliament[16] | ||||
| 28 November 2016 | Vacant | → | Anne Marie Morris MP (Conservative) | Newton Abbot | Hansard | ||||
The chair was elected on 10 June 2010, with members being announced on 12 July 2010.[17] [18]
| Member | Party | Constituency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Margaret Hodge MP (Chair) | Labour | Barking | |
| Richard Bacon MP | Conservative | South Norfolk | |
| Steve Barclay MP | Conservative | North East Cambridgeshire | |
| Jackie Doyle-Price MP | Conservative | Thurrock | |
| Justine Greening MP | Conservative | Putney | |
| Matt Hancock MP | Conservative | West Suffolk | |
| Chris Heaton-Harris MP | Conservative | Daventry | |
| Jo Johnson MP | Conservative | Orpington | |
| Eric Joyce MP | Labour | Falkirk | |
| Anne McGuire MP | Labour | Stirling | |
| Austin Mitchell MP | Labour | Great Grimsby | |
| Nick Smith MP | Labour | Blaenau Gwent | |
| Ian Swales MP | Liberal Democrats | Redcar | |
| James Wharton MP | Conservative | Stockton South | |
House of Commons standing orders give the party of the official Opposition the right to chair the committee.[19]
| Year | Chairman | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1861–63 | Sir Francis Tornhill Baring | Liberal | |
| 1864–1866 | Rt Hon Edward Pleydell-Bouverie | Liberal | |
| 1866 | Mr George Sclater-Booth | Conservative | |
| 1867–68 | Mr Hugh C E Childers | Liberal | |
| 1869 | Mr William Pollard-Urquhart | Liberal | |
| 1870–71 | Rt Hon George Ward Hunt | Conservative | |
| 1872–73 | Mr George Sclater-Booth | Conservative | |
| 1874–76 | Rt Hon John George Dodson | Liberal | |
| 1877–1880 | Lord Frederick Cavendish | Liberal | |
| 1884–85 | Sir Henry Holland | Conservative | |
| 1886 | Sir John Eldon Gorst | Conservative | |
| 1887–88 | Sir John Lubbock | Liberal Unionist | |
| 1889–92 | Sir Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth | Liberal | |
| 1893 | Mr Edmond Wodehouse | Liberal Unionist | |
| 1894–95 | Sir Richard Temple | Conservative | |
| 1896–1900 | Mr Arthur O'Connor | Irish National | |
| 1901–05 | Rt Hon Sir Arthur Hayter | Liberal | |
| 1906–08 | Rt Hon Victor Christian William Cavendish | Liberal Unionist | |
| 1908–18 | Col Robert Williams | Unionist | |
| 1919–20 | Rt Hon Sir Francis Dyke Acland | Liberal | |
| 1921–22 | Mr Aneurin Williams | Liberal | |
| 1923 | Mr Frederick William Jowett JP | Labour | |
| 1924 | Lt Col Rt Hon Walter Edward Guinness | Conservative | |
| 1924–29 | Rt Hon Willian Graham JP | Labour | |
| 1929–31 | Mr Arthur Michael Samuel | Conservative | |
| 1931–38 | Mr Morgan Jones | Labour | |
| 1938–41 | Rt Hon Frederick William Pethick-Lawrence | Labour | |
| 1941–43 | Lt Col Rt Hon Walter Elliot | Unionist | |
| 1943–45 | Lt Col Sir Assheton Pownall OBE TD | Unionist | |
| 1946–48 | Rt Hon Osbert Peake | Conservative | |
| 1948–50 | Rt Hon Ralph Assheton | Conservative | |
| 1950–51 | Sir Ronald Cross and Rt Hon Charles Waterhouse | Conservative | |
| 1951–52 | Mr John Edwards | Labour | |
| 1952–59 | Sir George Benson | Labour | |
| 1959–63 | Rt Hon Harold Wilson | Labour | |
| 1963–64 | Rt Hon A.L.N. Douglas Houghton | Labour | |
| 1964–70 | Rt Hon John Boyd-Carpenter | Conservative | |
| 1970–73 | Rt Hon Harold Lever | Labour | |
| 1972–73 | Rt Hon Edmund Dell (Acting chair during Harold Lever's illness) | Labour | |
| 1974–79 | Rt Hon Edward DuCann | Conservative | |
| 1979–83 | Rt Hon Joel Barnett | Labour | |
| 1983–97 | Rt Hon Robert Sheldon | Labour | |
| 1997–2001 | Rt Hon David Davis | Conservative | |
| 2001–10 | Rt Hon Sir Edward Leigh | Conservative | |
| 2010–15 | Rt Hon Dame Margaret Hodge | Labour | |
| 2015–present | Meg Hillier |