Government entities should come up with an action plan to overcome the shortcomings highlighted by the Public Accounts Committee, the committee’s chair Darren Carabott has said.
“What happens now is that witnesses are called to the PAC to face public scrutiny. After all witnesses have testified, the committee simply declares that the investigation has ended,” the PN MP said.
He said that after a PAC investigation, the National Audit Office should list a set of recommendations.
The public entity at the centre of PAC scrutiny would then have to produce an action plan based on those recommendations.
“This is not re-inventing the wheel,” Carabott said.
The Public Accounts Committee is responsible for scrutinising government spending.
Across the world, several such committees have systems for follow-up of investigations, the MP said, citing the UK and Canadian parliaments as examples.
In both systems, the PAC may present recommendations to the government for improvements in the administrative and financial practices of public bodies.
Last May, the House of Commons presented a report to parliament on the UK government’s Rwanda scheme, a policy to relocate to Rwanda those people identified as being in the UK illegally or seeking asylum after arriving via an illegal route.
Carabott believes it should be the auditor general’s office to draw up a report on the PAC investigation. But Malta’s PAC does not have the resources to do that kind of work, he said.
It is also rife with political division, which can hinder recommendations, he added.
The NAO sometimes lists recommendations in its initial report, but it can build on that following the PAC investigation, he said.
What does the PAC do?
The committee examines reports from the auditor general and investigates matters related to public spending, including how government departments and agencies manage their finances. It does this by calling witnesses who testify by answering the committee’s questions.
The government holds a majority in the seven-seat committee, but unlike other parliamentary committees, it is chaired by the opposition.
It is considered one of the more-heated committees in parliament and receives considerable attention from the public, often because of the stature of those testifying.