Shaw wants PAC to examine contractor general reports

Opposition Spokes-man on Finance Audley Shaw wants the role of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) expanded to include scrutiny of reports coming out of the Office of the Contractor General.

At the same time, Shaw is also pushing for the review of more value-for-money and performance audits of ministries, departments, and agencies.

He said this should be done by the auditor general.

Shaw, who is the chairman of the PAC, is batting for increased resources to be deployed to the oversight committee and the Auditor General's Department.

He said the work of both the PAC and the auditor general could be enhanced with additional resources, including technical staffing for increased research, analysis, and auditing functions.

Shaw was speaking yesterday during a Caribbean conference on parliamentary oversight hosted by ParlAmericas in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

He noted that Jamaica has shown increasing maturity with respect to the active involvement of parliamentary committees, mostly chaired by Opposition members, to ensure greater levels of transparency and accountability.