Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

Clearly my right hon. Friend and I disagree, but I hope it will be accepted that the restatement of the 1983 Act would not go amiss in the Bill. New clause 41 is intended to be inserted at the head of part 7. It repeats the opening of the 1983 Act, with the addition of the word "probity", which seems appropriate in current terms. Amendment 68 is intended to make clear the function of the Comptroller and Auditor General in relation to the purposes of national audit, and amendment 78 takes account of the modern circumstances in which private firms and third-sector organisations can receive a significant proportion of their funds—up to 80 per cent. in some cases—from the public purse. When the services that they provide were provided directly by public authorities, they were subject to the Comptroller and Auditor General or to local government audit. Modern suppliers of services receiving public money should be subject to the CAG, as plcs will be under clause 50. It is important to reassert the importance of the CAG and national audit. In the last Parliament, there was a brief, surreptitious attempt by the Government to insert a degree of Treasury control over national audit. That was seen off by a combination of Labour Members, Opposition Members and the House of Lords, and the Bill never proceeded, but it is important that we now reaffirm our commitment to national audit. After all, our primary purpose is to vote moneys for government on behalf of the people. We must ensure that what moneys we vote are spent appropriately. That is what national audit and the CAG are all about.