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The General Auditor, which is in charge of verifying how the government and the state administration do their work, will begin on Monday with investigations into the handling of the crown by the authorities.
This is confirmed by the Auditor General and the general manager of the Auditor General’s Office, Per-Kristian Foss at Dagbladet.
The areas where the audit begins investigations are NAV’s corona handling and authority crisis packages.
Chronic corona strike alert
Priority
According to the Auditor General, this work will be a high priority.
– We form a team through ministries and methodology, which is made up of auditors and inspectors, who are assigned interdisciplinary tasks. We give this work a high priority and, if necessary, we will put other research aside, says Foss.
– Also, our goal is to present the results during spring 2021, but there may be areas here that we need to work on further and that will take more time, continues Foss.
He adds that the handling of the crown will also be a natural part of the annual audit of the Office of the Auditor General of public administration and government accounts, which will be presented in the fall of 2021.
Six months for the history books
– gone fast
The Auditor General’s Office is the Storting’s oldest and largest supervisory body. Through account audits and investigations, the agency verifies how the government and state administration are doing their job.
– It is no less important in a crisis year, to say the least, says Foss.
– Norway has introduced the strictest and most intrusive measures in peacetime. It has been necessary to save lives and secure businesses and jobs, but it has gone fast. So the risk of mistakes being made increases, and that’s our job to find out, so that we learn from mistakes, says Foss.
– Could I have gone too fast?
– We don’t know yet, but the survey will answer that, says the Auditor General.
– What consequences will your findings have?
– We have no means of power. We cannot impose fines or prison sentences, but we can present criticism with a view to the Storting’s consideration. Most of this is about learning for next time, responds Foss.
– It can be more
The Storting has allocated almost an additional NOK 250 billion for various crown measures, according to the Auditor General’s Office. The fact that crisis funds are paid out and used in accordance with the Storting’s decision is absolutely crucial for confidence in the state apparatus, Foss emphasizes.
The Auditor General’s Office thus begins by examining NAV’s corona handling and authorities’ financial crisis packages, but Foss does not rule out that more issues may emerge over time, which will also be investigated.
End of loan assistance
Investigating NAV
– The only direct investigation that we are initiating is the one of the numerous extraordinary payments of NAV. When Norway closed in March, unemployment rose dramatically and the NAV was given a central role in everything when it came to tracking those who suddenly became unemployed, says Foss.
It says that as of Aug. 23, the agency had received 514,000 applications for unemployment benefits and processed 410,000 of them.
– Storting orders have meant that NAV has had to move resources, postpone several important tasks and introduce new computer systems much faster than normal. This increases the risk that someone will not get the money they are entitled to, that someone will get money and benefits that they should not have had, and that other legal tasks will not be carried out. This is something we’ll take a closer look at, says Foss.
Emphasize that if something has happened quickly, it does not mean that something has gone wrong.
– The risk of incorrect payments is not less if a long time has passed, says the Auditor General.
Crisis Package Investigation
The many billions the Storting has allocated include a series of measures to avoid unnecessary layoffs and bankruptcies at viable companies, according to the Office of the Auditor General. Schemes are application-based payments to companies or individuals affected by the crisis, and fiscal policy measures such as changes in taxes and fees. In addition, public companies have received additional funding, the audit notes.
– When you create application-based schemes so quickly, you increase the risk of differential treatment and of funds being misallocated, says Foss.
He says the Auditor General’s Office will maintain a close dialogue with, among others, the government-appointed crown commission to avoid unnecessary duplication of work, and on which areas it is most appropriate to investigate further.
