David Walker

About David Walker

David Walker is the former managing director for communications and public reporting at the Audit Commission. A long-standing journalist and well-known commentator on public policy issues, he is contributing editor to the Public Leaders Network

We’re not all localists now

1 August 2011 | David Walker

Across Whitehall ‘growth’ has become the rallying cry, and localism is being sacrificed to the urgent demand for economic development  Read more

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Audit Commission: the watchdog that didn’t bark

1 July 2011 | David Walker

The Audit Commission is still holding back in responding to the consultation on its own demise. Criticising the government’s plans could be tantamount to attacking localism and the Big Society Read more

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‘Natural accounts’ get green light

7 June 2011 | David Walker

The environment white paper is chock-full of good ideas including plans for ‘green reporting’ that could start to shake up conventional ideas of audit and accounting Read more

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Perils of privatising public audit

3 June 2011 | David Walker

Plans to effectively privatise the Audit Commission are destined to fail. Within five years we can expect something not dissimilar from district audit being recreated Read more

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Labour’s hidden legacy

26 May 2011 | David Walker

The Conservatives have managed to convince the public that the previous government spent wildly and excessively. But some of Labour’s projects, such as one-to-one teaching, can be shown to have been cost effective in the longer term Read more

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Suffolk outsourcing: political gets personal, by David Walker

5 May 2011 | David Walker

To lead you need ego. But to be a top manager in a public body you need ego that’s pliable, accommodating and unjealous. Read more...

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The PM’s misjudgments over migration, by David Walker

14 April 2011 | David Walker

David Cameron’s speech today on migration is about pre-election ‘body language’ and political manoeuvring. His intervention a couple of months ago on multiculturalism was similarly timed to stop a spate of bad news. Now he is on the front pages sounding tough – perhaps with the aim of distracting us from those pictures of Andrew Lansley being humiliated at the Royal College of Nursing conference. Read more...

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Whither local audit? Nobody knows, by David Walker

5 April 2011 | David Walker

Thanks to the NLGN, the ACCA and Baker Tilly accountants– with Clive Betts’ Commons CLG committee due to weigh in soonish – a public debate about the future of local audit has more or less taken off this spring. But conceptually and strategically, things are as confused as they have been since last summer when the government announced the abolition of the Audit Commission on a whim and a prayer. Read more...

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The Confed and NHS confusion, by David Walker

31 March 2011 | David Walker

The latest state-of-play report from the NHS Confederation is intended to be helpful, but succeeds only in demonstrating just how confused health policy now is, especially over accountability. And, to be fair to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, how confused it has been for ages. Read more...

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Behind the Budget, by David Walker

23 March 2011 | David Walker

Fiscally speaking today’s Budget was always going to be a non-event. The die was cast last year when the government decided to batter demand by rushing forward with its plan to shrink the state. Today’s halfpennies off thresholds and tinkering with duty are negligible by comparison. Read more...

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