PAC criticises the Equality and Human Rights Commission

Commission wrote off assets worth £1.4m

PAC said Commission had poor control of its computer costs

Parliament's Public Accounts Committee has criticised the Equality and Human Rights Commission for poor control of its computer costs in a report released today.

The errors cited by the report include the department’s £9.3m spend on new equipment including computer terminals even though it had inherited equipment from its predecessor organisations – the Commission for Racial Equality, the Disability Rights Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission.

The report says that it wrote off assets inherited from the legacy commissions at a cost of £1.4m, but could not explain why it chose not to use the equipment it inherited from those organisations.

Evidence to the committee also revealed that the former Commission for Racial Equality disposed of IT assets worth £258,000. The new commission "physically verified" £188,000 of these and disposed of them. However, IT worth £70,000 was not accounted for.

This article originally appeared in Kable.