I write following our acknowledgement, dated 8 August 2008, of your request for information about Commission for Local Administration England (CLAE) appointments by Audit Commission

Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your request. I have been provided with the following information in response to your request:

1.

Eugene Sullivan, Managing Director (Corporate Services) is Chair of the Audit Committee of the Commissioner for Local Administration.

This is a non-executive, remunerated post, in a body that has no contractual or statutory relationship with the Commission. Instead it is a form of public service, of the kind we encourage all our staff to undertake.

As part of the appointment process, Eugene declared this appointment; the circumstances were reviewed and the Commission was satisfied that it did not represent a threat to our independence.

An electronic search has also been made of our Statements on Independence for the terms `CLAE' and 'Commission for Local Administration in England'. The search returned no other records.

2.

Audit Commission staff are required to abide by a set of rules designed to preserve the independence of the Audit Commission and its audit and inspection functions. However, this set of rules focuses on links between Audit Commission staff with audited and inspected bodies and does not contain any specific rules with regard to appointments at non-departmental public bodies.

Nevertheless, all staff of the Commission and its appointed auditors are required to carry out their work independently and objectively and ensure that they do not act in any way that might give rise to, or could reasonably be perceived to give rise to, a conflict of interest.

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I hope the information received is what you were expecting.  However if you are unhappy with what has been provided, you can raise a complaint under the Audit Commission's Access to Information Complaints Procedure, please find a copy enclosed.  

Information supplied under the Freedom of Information Act and/or Environmental Information Regulations will be subject to copyright protection under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Information can be re-used for the purposes of research for non-commercial purposes, for private study, or for news reporting and reviews, without requiring formal consent. However, if you wish to re-use the information for commercial purposes, including publishing, you are required to seek the permission of the Audit Commission. Permission to re-use copyright information is granted in the form of a licence.

Yours sincerely

Gary Shipsey

Compliance Manager

1 Gary Shipsey Letter to Stuart HARDWICKE CARRUTHERS 03 Sep 2008 │Error! No text of specified style in document.

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