| Year |
Event |
| 1846 |
District Audit Service founded to examine the accounts of local government districts in England and Wales. |
| 1972 |
Parliament allowed local authorities to choose whether
their accounts were audited by a private firm of accountants or by the district
auditors. |
| 1982 |
The Government brought local authority auditing and
the examination of the overall management of local government under the
control of a single, independent body. |
| 1983 |
The Audit Commission began operations by law. |
| 1990 |
The Audit Commission's role was extended to include
NHS authorities, trusts and other bodies. |
| 1992 |
A duty to direct local authorities to publish comparative
indicators of performance annually was added. |
| 1996 |
The Commission was given responsibility for joint
inspections of social services with the Social Services Inspectorate and
Social Services Inspectorate for Wales. |
| 1997 |
Inspections of local education authorities jointly with
the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) and Her Majesty's Inspectorate
for Education and Training in Wales (Estyn) commenced. |
| 1999 |
The Commission established an office in Cardiff,
and a Best Value Inspectorate in England and Wales. |
| 2000 |
Responsibility for auditing the Greater London Authority
and its functional bodies was given to the Commission.
The Government's NHS Plan announced a wider remit, working with the
Commission for Health Improvement (CHI). A separate and distinctive
NHS Plan for Wales was published shortly afterwards. |
| 2001 |
In England a government White Paper, Strong
Local Leadership - Quality Public Services (PDF, external link), proposed to give the
Commission responsibility for comprehensive performance assessments
of local authorities. In Wales, the Programme for Improvement emphasised
self-assessment, with the Commission supporting and validating the analysis. |
| 2002 |
The yearly findings for Comprehensive Performance Assessment, (CPA) published on our website for the first time.
Audit Commission and District Audit merge to become one organisation. |
| 2004 |
Our Strategic Plan 2004 - 2007 sets out the Commission's approach towards public service improvement. |
