Richardson claims denied

Press, 8 October 1988, Page 2

Richardson claims denied

Political reporter

The Treasury has defended itself against Opposition claims that it is not accountable to Parliament for the spending of millions of dollars on private consultants.

The Secretary of the Treasury, Dr Graham Scott, said yesterday that the Treasury had always fully accepted its duty to be accountable to Parliament.

The Opposition spokeswoman on finance, Miss Ruth Richardson, had told Parliament that the Treasury spent more than $lO million last financial year on private consultants. The money was not accountable because the companies invoked commercial sensitivity.

Dr Scott said the Treasury had told the Parliamentary Finance and Expenditure Select Committee that it would co-operate fully in allowing it to judge whether such spending was worth while.

He released guidelines which warn consultants seeking Treasury contracts that these were subject to inquiry by select committees and by the Official Information Act.

The guideline said that the Treasury would generally resist agreeing to clauses of commercial confidentiality in contracts, except where individuals were involved.