Houghton and Sunderland South MP, Bridget Phillipson has joined the influential Public Accounts Committee. The Parliamentary Committee has a cross cutting remit, responsible for overseeing government expenditures, efficiency and effectiveness of this spending and generally holding the government and its civil servants to account for the delivery of public services.

In recent years the profile of the committee has risen as its remit spread beyond government departments to examine public bodies and private companies providing public services. Recent work includes investigations into tax evasion at HSBC, NHS Care and the rail network.

Writing in her Sunderland Echo Column about her appointment, Bridget Phillipson MP said:

“It will be a privilege to serve on this influential select committee. It is the oldest in the House of Commons, dating back to the days when William Gladstone was Chancellor in the early 1860s. It has a broad remit and is responsible for overseeing government expenditure, looking at how effectively public money is being spent and holding ministers to account.”