Clause 22
Housing and Regeneration Bill
5:30 pm
Lembit Öpik (Shadow Minister (Housing), Department for Communities and Local Government; Montgomeryshire, Liberal Democrat)
I admire the Minister’s optimism and faith in the audit process. Just about everything that the Government do is audited, apart from, apparently, the European Union, but that is another story. My concern is that the audit trail can highlight money that has been wasted, but is unlikely to warn us of money that is about to be wasted. Therefore I ask the Minister again what assurance we can have that the HCA will not end up becoming a massive opportunity for the private sector to make money out of the state by sharp negotiation and the naivety of the Government, as has sometimes been seen in such negotiations?