Abstract

The mainstream description of UK's institutions provides that the parliament plays little role in law and policy-making processes and in the control of government activities. However, the revitalization of an old institution, the National Audit Office, and the new relations built with the Public Accounts Committee, along with other relevant institutional changes, has heavily modified the relative relevance of these public institutions in the last decades. Today we observe that in Westminster parliament there is a new culture of public scrutiny, based on the evaluation of public performances and that this is reflected in an improved role for the parliament itself.