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Why does 73 year old Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office since 1998, carry on working long after other top public officials have called it a day?
Information unearthed using the Freedom of Information Act suggests it might be because the job has long enabled Sir John, whose task is to ensure taxpayers' money isn't wasted, to live the high life at the expense of, er, the taxpayer.
Although the NAO (motto ''helping the nation spend wisely'') might be thought a largely domestic operation, in the three years up to this March, Sir John managed 43 seperate foreign trips, on 22 of which he was accompanied by his wife Ardita.
Among Sir John & Lady Bourn's crucial engagements were a four-day trip to Mauritious for a ''peer review'' of the island's audit office and, in one six
-week period, in 2005, successive trips to India, Morocco and Canada to discuss training projects and a ''global working group''. All told, in the last
three years the total travel bill for Sir John's private office tops £336.000 of which £76.000 went on Lady Bourn's fares.
The NAO insists that ''Lady Bourn attends where neccesary to meet the expectations of the host in line with established practice in the diplomatic service and her presence is greatly appreciated''. Except that Sir John is the country's top beancounter, not a diplomat. And what little is known of the trips on which Lady Bourn has travelled suggests it isn't all work, work, work either. In Febuary 2005 the Bourns stayed a couple of days extra in Aukland, New Zealand, once the Commonwealth Auditors' Conference had finished. Their trip to a two-day ''working group on privatisation'' in Brazil that September was extended by three days. But most pleasant of all was a sojourn to the Bahamas six months ago to attend the Carribean Organisation of State Audit Offices Congress. The conference ran from 16th to 19th October, but the couple did'nt travel until the 18th. After a tough day's work on the 19th they took a well eaned break under the carribean sun (a balmy 80 degrees C in October) before flying home five days later. Sir John also made 12 single-night trips for all but one of which, oddly, Lady Bourn's wifely presence was not required.
The NAO said it could'nt name the hotels the Bourns stayed in - but they are known to do things in style. When the NAO audited the International
Atomic Energy Authority for nine years until 2003, on his regular visits to it's Vienna HQ Sir John always insisted on staying in a suite at the city's finest hotel, the Sacher, costing several thousands of pounds a night. The same goes for flying. Until it was grounded four years ago, Sir John made trips to the US on Concorde, eschewing a much cheaper Jumbo ''in order to manage competing demands in the UK and US'' according to the NAO.
Some taxpayers, and maybe even the Public Accounts Commission that oversees the NAO, might ponder the value of Sir John's globe-trotting.
Did he really need to attend the Carribean Auditors' get-together (with his wife) rather than stay at home and work on Britain's public finances? Or was he enticed by a few days' subsidised holiday after a single day's business? And wern't many of the meetings quite technical and more suited to one of the NAO's numerous directors or specialists?
Commenting on suspect dealings elsewhere, Sir John quoted Lord Nolan on standards: ''Holders of public office should take decisions solely in terms
of the public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other marerial benefits for themselves, their family or their friends.'' It was
presumably such high principles that a year ago persuaded the Prime Minister to appoint Sir John as his ''independant advisor on ministerial interests'' in the wake of David Blunkett inappropriately obtaining first-class rail tickets for his then squeeze, Kimberly Fortier.
Six months later Sir John and Lady Bourn were sunning themselves in the Bahamas at public expense - first-class all the way, of course.
Information unearthed using the Freedom of Information Act suggests it might be because the job has long enabled Sir John, whose task is to ensure taxpayers' money isn't wasted, to live the high life at the expense of, er, the taxpayer.
Although the NAO (motto ''helping the nation spend wisely'') might be thought a largely domestic operation, in the three years up to this March, Sir John managed 43 seperate foreign trips, on 22 of which he was accompanied by his wife Ardita.
Among Sir John & Lady Bourn's crucial engagements were a four-day trip to Mauritious for a ''peer review'' of the island's audit office and, in one six
-week period, in 2005, successive trips to India, Morocco and Canada to discuss training projects and a ''global working group''. All told, in the last
three years the total travel bill for Sir John's private office tops £336.000 of which £76.000 went on Lady Bourn's fares.
The NAO insists that ''Lady Bourn attends where neccesary to meet the expectations of the host in line with established practice in the diplomatic service and her presence is greatly appreciated''. Except that Sir John is the country's top beancounter, not a diplomat. And what little is known of the trips on which Lady Bourn has travelled suggests it isn't all work, work, work either. In Febuary 2005 the Bourns stayed a couple of days extra in Aukland, New Zealand, once the Commonwealth Auditors' Conference had finished. Their trip to a two-day ''working group on privatisation'' in Brazil that September was extended by three days. But most pleasant of all was a sojourn to the Bahamas six months ago to attend the Carribean Organisation of State Audit Offices Congress. The conference ran from 16th to 19th October, but the couple did'nt travel until the 18th. After a tough day's work on the 19th they took a well eaned break under the carribean sun (a balmy 80 degrees C in October) before flying home five days later. Sir John also made 12 single-night trips for all but one of which, oddly, Lady Bourn's wifely presence was not required.
The NAO said it could'nt name the hotels the Bourns stayed in - but they are known to do things in style. When the NAO audited the International
Atomic Energy Authority for nine years until 2003, on his regular visits to it's Vienna HQ Sir John always insisted on staying in a suite at the city's finest hotel, the Sacher, costing several thousands of pounds a night. The same goes for flying. Until it was grounded four years ago, Sir John made trips to the US on Concorde, eschewing a much cheaper Jumbo ''in order to manage competing demands in the UK and US'' according to the NAO.
Some taxpayers, and maybe even the Public Accounts Commission that oversees the NAO, might ponder the value of Sir John's globe-trotting.
Did he really need to attend the Carribean Auditors' get-together (with his wife) rather than stay at home and work on Britain's public finances? Or was he enticed by a few days' subsidised holiday after a single day's business? And wern't many of the meetings quite technical and more suited to one of the NAO's numerous directors or specialists?
Commenting on suspect dealings elsewhere, Sir John quoted Lord Nolan on standards: ''Holders of public office should take decisions solely in terms
of the public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other marerial benefits for themselves, their family or their friends.'' It was
presumably such high principles that a year ago persuaded the Prime Minister to appoint Sir John as his ''independant advisor on ministerial interests'' in the wake of David Blunkett inappropriately obtaining first-class rail tickets for his then squeeze, Kimberly Fortier.
Six months later Sir John and Lady Bourn were sunning themselves in the Bahamas at public expense - first-class all the way, of course.
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