Government of Wales Bill

moved Amendment No. 15:"Page 19, line 34, leave out ““Audit Committee or Pwyllgor Archwilio”” and insert ““Accounts Committee (or Pwyllgor Cyfrifon) or any other name that the Assembly chooses to allow through its standing orders””" The noble Baroness said: My Lords, in moving Amendment No. 15 I shall speak also to the other five amendments in the group. The Minister will see that in addition to my noble friend Lord Roberts of Conwy, the noble Lords, Lord Livsey of Talgarth and Lord Roberts of Llandudno, have added their names to the amendment. I am grateful to them for their support. Put simply, the amendments are designed to save the new arrangements for government in Wales from an unwieldy bit of language. Clause 30 states that there has to be a committee known as the ““Audit Committee””, and Clause 142 sets out what it must do in terms of considering accounts and the Auditor General’s reports, and laying reports on them before the Assembly. As we debated in Committee, the functions set out in Clause 142 are virtually the same as those which apply to the Public Accounts Committee in another place. The term ““Audit Committee”” is used widely in both the public and private sectors with a slightly different meaning in each. In the public sector, the Treasury talks of the audit committee in terms of supporting the accounting officer in matters of risk, control and governance, while in the private sector the audit committee has a role acting on behalf of the board to oversee and review financial statements and financial controls. None of this usage is like Clause 142, which makes Clause 30, at the very least, confusing. All these points were made by the Auditor General for Wales to the Assembly committee which considered the Bill, and the committee concurred with the Auditor General. That is why Amendment No. 15 would take out the name ““Audit Committee””. It is simply the wrong name. The amendment does this by replacing it with ““Accounts Committee”” which is similar to ““Public Accounts Committee””. However, the amendment goes further and provides that the name may be changed through the Assembly’s standing orders. It is surely wrong in principle to hardwire any title of a committee into an Act. This amendment allows for future change if the Assembly thinks fit. It is true that the current arrangements in Wales feature an audit committee, but that is not an argument to enshrine it for all time in this Bill. It is also true that the Scottish Parliament uses the title, but I understand that this is achieved entirely through its standing orders and there is no compulsion as to name or even the nature of the committee in the Scotland Act. This amendment is plain common sense. I beg to move.