How do they get away with it?

The NAO's report on the Equality and Human Rights Commission makes shocking reading. Here are just two quotes that give a flavour of the scandalous management of that institution.

"The Comptroller and Auditor General has qualified the accounts of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) because the EHRC re-engaged, without Treasury authority, seven former senior employees of the former Commission for Racial Equality who had left that body under a voluntary early severance scheme."

"The EHRC incurred costs of £629,276 in respect of the severance costs of these individuals, but, on returning to the Commission, these staff received between them consultancy fees of £323,708. The Treasury had not authorised in advance the payments to re-engage these staff, and refused to do so retrospectively because it did not consider that the payments represented value for money. In particular, the Treasury expressed concern about the level of the salaries paid to the re-engaged staff and raised the possibility that the re-engaged staff should have repaid their severance payments."

In the UK, accountability disappeared a long time ago. No one will be held responsible; everything will continue as before. The only loser here is the voiceless and disenfranchised taxpayer.