Local Audit and Accountability Bill [HL]

In speaking to Amendment 14ZA, I shall speak also to Amendment 14ZC. These amendments take us bac...

My Lords, I shall speak to Amendment 14ZAA and its co-runner Amendment 14BZA, both of which are i...

My Lords, I will speak to these amendments, although sitting next to me is my noble friend Lord T...

My Lords, I thank both noble Lords for these amendments, which take up the points that we made on...

My Lords, again, I am grateful to the Minister for a very clear steer on where the Government are...

Tabled by

The Earl of Lytton

14ZAA*: Clause 7, page 5, line 31, at end insert—

...

First, I thank the Minister very much for her comments. Secondly, as I understood her, Amendment ...

Moved by

Lord Beecham

14ZB*: Clause 7, page 5, line 38, leave out subsection (3)

My Lords, this amendment addresses the question of the appointment of local auditors, covered by ...

I find it somewhat surprising that there is this perceived idea of auditors being too cosy with t...

My Lords, I am struggling to understand the implications of what the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, is...

Perhaps I might respond before the Minister replies, since we are in Committee. My preference wou...

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, for raising this interesting point, but I am boun...

My Lords, as the noble Baroness knows, I am not easily satisfied, and I am not completely satisfi...

Moved by

Lord McKenzie of Luton

14ZD*: Schedule 3, page 39, line 5, after “may” inser...

My Lords, this is a very straightforward amendment, which is intended to ensure that the Secretar...

Here I am acting as the Minister, jumping to my fifth subject today, although I am happy to do so...

I am grateful to the noble Lord for that response. I certainly intend to withdraw the amendment. ...

Schedule 2 sets out a range of other bodies. The minor bodies that are set out range from waste m...

I am grateful for that further exemplary clarification. I have not had a chance to read the state...

Moved by

Lord McKenzie of Luton

14ZE*: Clause 8, page 6, line 26, at end insert “and ...

My Lords, the procedure for the appointment of auditors provided for in Clause 8 seems overly bur...

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, began by describing this process as overly bureaucratic,...

Perhaps I may just ask whether it would remain open to authorities to combine in placing audit co...

My Lords, I am happy to give that assurance. That is entirely acceptable and to be expected withi...

I have never achieved that before.

I have not achieved it yet.

The Government understand and support the intentions behind the amendment—to ensure that there is...

I am grateful to the Minister. I certainly do not intend to press the amendment. I say to the nob...

Moved by

Lord McKenzie of Luton

14ZG*: Clause 9, page 7, line 7, leave out subsection...

My Lords, this group of amendments would in essence delete the requirement to have an auditor pan...

It is not often that I agree with much of what the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, says in this contex...

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, has raised a very important and useful issue. We will di...

My Lords, I endorse what the noble Lord, Lord Tope, has just said about the principle, which my n...

My Lords, I failed to declare that I am also a member of the audit committee of my council.

My Lords, I have an amendment coming up, Amendment 14BBA, but had I known how the discussion on t...

My Lords, I declare an interest myself, as leader of a local authority, and apologise for not bei...

My Lords, the definition of independence is set out in Schedule 4, which says that a person is in...

My Lords, I do not wish to detain the Committee. I just hope to have a response in writing before...

Perhaps I may raise one small issue about the independent members of an audit panel. I do not see...

Perhaps I may add some more questions. I am sorry that they come so late. While paragraph 2 of Sc...

My Lords, we will move on to the question of health bodies in our discussion of further amendment...

My Lords, I am slightly confused, because the group of amendments with which we are dealing is ab...

Since we are not sure which amendment it is, perhaps the Committee will forgive me if I say just ...

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to what was a wide-ranging debate in the e...

Moved by

Lord McKenzie of Luton

14BB*: Schedule 4, page 40, line 6, leave out sub-par...

My Lords, the purpose of this amendment is to introduce arrangements to prevent individuals with ...

I have to inform your Lordships that if Amendment 14BB is agreed I cannot call Amendment 14BBA on...

My Lords, we are, in a sense, continuing the previous debate. Before I directly address the amend...

My Lords, I should apologise to the Committee. It was probably my fault that we got confused. I w...

My Lords, we are willing to look at that as well and I will write to the noble Lord. After all, w...

My Lords, perhaps I can come back on that because I am probably the only person in your Lordships...

My Lords, I think that we are trying to achieve the same thing here and therefore further discuss...

My Lords, I am very happy to look at this again between Committee and Report and make sure that t...

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that response and for the undertaking to look at this...

Tabled by

The Earl of Lytton

14BBA*: Schedule 4, page 40, line 8, leave out paragraph...

My Lords, I am going to be incredibly brief and thank the Minister for his reply in the previous ...

Moved by

Lord McKenzie of Luton

14BC*: Schedule 4, page 41, line 5, after “may” inser...

My Lords, this amendment touches on something that my noble friend began to address in an earlier...

My Lords, the direct answer to the noble Lord is that there are different arrangements in the var...

Will the noble Baroness remind me of the question which I have not asked?

I am tempted but I will not rise to that. If the noble Lord does not know what question he has no...

I shall ponder that response but I think that I would hang on to the basic point. It seems to me ...

Moved by

Lord McKenzie of Luton

14BE*: Clause 10, page 7, line 14, leave out “must” a...

My Lords, I shall speak also to the other amendments in this group. The amendment would remove th...

My Lords, perhaps I may first deal with the description of “independent” which, I understand, wil...

I am grateful to the Minister for that response and am happy to follow up on those points. They w...

Moved by

Lord True

14BS*: Clause 11, page 8, line 23, leave out “other than a health ...

My Lords, I need not speak at length on this because I made a relatively lengthy intervention at ...

I would simply urge the Minister to give some encouragement to the noble Lord, Lord True, who has...

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for having introduced this amendment because it opens up the re...

My Lords, I am very grateful for what my noble friend has said. Certainly, I would be extremely i...

Moved by

Lord McKenzie of Luton

14D*: Clause 13, page 9, line 31, leave out “25 March...

My Lords, this was a very straightforward amendment, which probes the difference between deadline...

My Lords, this goes back to what we were discussing when we were talking about local authorities....

Perhaps I may ask the Minister for clarification. The Bill states:

“by the end of 25 March ...

My Lords, I have misled the Committee, for which I apologise. As the noble Lord said, it is the p...

I thank the Minister. I am going to have to read the record on that. The potential discrepancy th...

My Lords, in seeking that Clause 14 should not stand part of the Bill, I should say that this is ...

We have already mentioned that the number of accountancy firms capable of carrying out these audi...

My Lords, perhaps I can pick up the questions as I go along. However, it would probably be helpfu...

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that response. I think that we understand a bit bette...

Moved by

Lord McKenzie of Luton

14E*: Clause 16, page 12, line 5, at end insert—

My Lords, Clause 16 concerns the resignation and removal of the local auditor, and the amendment ...

My Lords, the noble Lord makes an extremely important point which in certain circumstances could ...

My Lords, Amendment 14E would add to the regulation-making powers under Clause 16(1)(b), which re...

I thank the Minister for that reply. I did not assume that she would accept the wording, but I wa...

The question is that Clause 17 stand part of the Bill.

My Lords, I think that we agreed to draw stumps at the end of Clause 16. We will get on to Clause...