The current chairman of the Audit Commission will see in the next general election, having been re-appointed for a second three-year term. Michael O'Higgins has accepted the appointment, which will begin in October, after completing three years in the job. He said: ‘I am extremely pleased.' Alongside his work at the Audit Commission, Mr O'Higgins is also a director of HM Treasury, chair of the Treasury Group audit committee, and of homelessness charity Centrepoint. He also became a trustee of the National Centre for Social Research and a member of the cabinet secretary's capability review moderation panel in 2007. Communities secretary, John Denham, described Mr O'Higgins' contribution to the Audit Commission so far as ‘ invaluable.'