The National Audit Office (NAO) is the external auditor of all government departments and a wide range of other public sector bodies. The role of the NAO is to scrutinise public spending on behalf of Parliament.
The NAO has statutory authority to report to Parliament on the value for money of government expenditure. The Public Accounts Committee draws on the NAO’s findings to question the government on the implementation of its spending decisions.
Examining the NAO's annual spending proposals
The Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011 requires the Public Accounts Commission to examine the NAO’s annual spending proposals as set out in its Main Supply Estimate and to lay it before the House of Commons. The Act provides that in doing so, the Commission should have regard to advice given by the Public Accounts Committee. The Estimate sets out a total net resource requirement of £64.5 million for the provision of audit and other assurance services, and includes £1.5 million to cover the transfer of functions from the Audit Commission to publish and maintain the Code of Audit Practice, setting audit standards across the local government sector. This resource requirement is unchanged from the figure in the NAO’s Strategy approved by the Commission in December 2014.