Government of Wales Bill

Government of Wales Bill - continued	House of Commons
PART IV, ASSEMBLY FINANCE - continued
The Auditor General for Wales - continued

back to previous text


Expenses, fees and accounts.	93. - (1) The expenses of the Auditor General for Wales shall, so far as they cannot be met out of income received by him, be met by the Assembly (or, before the first ordinary election, by the Secretary of State).
	(2) Those expenses include any sums payable by the Auditor General for Wales in consequence of a breach, in the course of the performance of any of his functions, of any contractual or other duty (whether that breach occurs by reason of his act or omission or that of a member of his staff or any other person assisting him in the exercise of his functions).
	(3) The Auditor General for Wales may charge a fee for auditing the accounts of any person other than the Assembly.
	(4) For each financial year of the Assembly after the first, the Auditor General for Wales shall prepare, and submit to the Audit Committee, an estimate of the income and expenses of his office.
	(5) Each such estimate shall be submitted to the Audit Committee at least five months before the beginning of the financial year to which it relates.
	(6) The Audit Committee shall examine each such estimate submitted to it and, after having done so, shall lay the estimate before the Assembly with any such modifications as the Committee thinks fit.
	(7) Where the Audit Committee proposes to lay such an estimate before the Assembly with modifications, the Committee shall first consult the Secretary of State and have regard to any advice which he may give.
	(8) The Auditor General for Wales shall, for each financial year of the Assembly, prepare accounts in accordance with directions given to him by the Treasury.
	(9) The directions which the Treasury may give under subsection (8) include, in particular, directions as to-
	(a) the information to be contained in the accounts and the manner in which it is to be presented,
	(b) the methods and principles in accordance with which the accounts are to be prepared, and
	(c) the additional information (if any) that is to accompany the accounts.
Audit of Auditor General's accounts.	94. - (1) The Assembly shall appoint an auditor of the accounts of the Auditor General for Wales.
	(2) The Assembly may not delegate the function of appointing the auditor to-
	(a) a committee of the Assembly, or
	(b) a member of the Assembly's staff.
	(3) A person shall not be appointed as the auditor unless he is eligible for appointment as a company auditor under section 25 of the Companies Act 1989; and if a person appointed as the auditor ceases to be so eligible before the end of the period for which he was appointed, his appointment is ended and he ceases to be the auditor.
	(4) The auditor shall be appointed on such terms and conditions as the Assembly may determine; and the Auditor General for Wales shall pay the auditor such remuneration as may be provided for by or under the terms of the auditor's appointment.
	(5) Any accounts which the Auditor General for Wales is directed to prepare under section 93(8) for any financial year shall be submitted by him (after he has signed them) to the auditor no later than five months after the end of that financial year.
	(6) The auditor shall carry out an audit of any accounts submitted to him under subsection (5) and on completing the audit the auditor shall certify the accounts and lay them, together with his report on them, before the Assembly.
	(7) The auditor-
	(a) shall have a right of access at all reasonable times to all such documents as appear to him necessary for the purposes of his audit of the accounts of the Auditor General for Wales,
	(b) shall be entitled to require from any person holding or accountable for any of those documents any assistance, information or explanation which he reasonably thinks necessary for those purposes, and
	(c) may require the Auditor General for Wales to furnish him at times specified by him with accounts of such of the transactions of the Auditor General for Wales as he may specify.
	(8) The auditor-
	(a) may carry out examinations into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the Auditor General for Wales has used his resources in discharging his functions, and
	(b) may lay before the Assembly a report of the results of any such examinations.
	(9) For the purpose of carrying out examinations under subsection (8), the auditor-
	(a) shall have a right of access at all reasonable times to all such documents in the custody or under the control of the Auditor General for Wales as he may reasonably require for that purpose, and
	(b) shall be entitled to require from any person holding or accountable for any of those documents any assistance, information or explanation which he reasonably thinks necessary for that purpose.
Access to documents by Auditor General.	95. - (1) For the purposes of his examination of any auditable accounts, the Auditor General for Wales-
	(a) shall have a right of access at all reasonable times to all the documents relating to the accounts of any relevant person,
	(b) shall be entitled to require from any person holding or accountable for any of those documents any assistance, information or explanation which he reasonably thinks necessary for those purposes, and
	(c) may require any relevant person to furnish him at times specified by him with accounts of such of that relevant person's transactions as he may specify.
	(2) In subsection (1) "relevant person", in relation to any auditable accounts, means-
	(a) the person by whom they are prepared, and
	(b) in the case of any accounts which the Assembly is directed to prepare under section 97, any person to whose financial affairs and transactions the auditable accounts are to relate by virtue of directions under subsection (2) of that section.
	(3) In this section "auditable accounts" means any accounts or statement of accounts falling to be examined by the Auditor General for Wales in accordance with any provision made by or by virtue of this or any other Act.
	(4) For the purpose of carrying out, in accordance with any provision made by or by virtue of this or any other Act, examinations into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which any person has used his resources in discharging his functions, the Auditor General for Wales-
	(a) shall have a right of access at all reasonable times to all such documents in the custody or under the control of that person as he may reasonably require for that purpose, and
	(b) shall be entitled to require from any person holding or accountable for any of those documents any assistance, information or explanation which he reasonably thinks necessary for that purpose.
Auditor General for Wales: miscellaneous.	96. - (1) Where the Assembly is entitled to appoint the auditor of the accounts of any person (other than the Auditor General for Wales), the Assembly may appoint the Auditor General for Wales to be the auditor (even if he would not otherwise be eligible to be appointed).
	(2) Where in such a case the auditor falls to be appointed annually, the Assembly may appoint the Auditor General for Wales to be the auditor for a year or for two or more years or indefinitely until further exercise of the power of appointment.
	(3) The Auditor General for Wales may-
	(a) examine, certify or report on a person's accounts, or
	(b) carry out examinations into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which a person has used his resources in discharging his functions,
	if provision is made for the Auditor General for Wales to do so by an agreement entered into by the person with either the Assembly or a Minister of the Crown.
	(4) In determining how to exercise his functions under paragraph (b) of subsection (3), the Auditor General for Wales shall take into account the views of the Audit Committee (or, before the first ordinary election, the views of the Secretary of State) as to the examinations which he should carry out under that paragraph.
	(5) Where by an Order in Council under section 22 there is transferred to the Assembly a function of preparing any accounts, the Secretary of State may by order provide for the transfer to the Auditor General for Wales of any function of the Comptroller and Auditor General in relation to those accounts.
	(6) An order under subsection (5) may contain any appropriate consequential, incidental, supplementary or transitional provisions or savings (including provisions in the form of amendments or repeals of enactments).
	(7) An Order in Council under section 22 may include any provision that may be included in an order under subsection (5).
	Financial accountability of Assembly etc.
Preparation and audit of Assembly's annual accounts.	97. - (1) The Assembly shall, for each financial year of the Assembly, prepare accounts in accordance with directions given to it by the Treasury.
	(2) The directions which the Treasury may give under subsection (1) include directions to prepare accounts relating to financial affairs and transactions of persons other than the Assembly.
	(3) The directions which the Treasury may give under subsection (1) include, in particular, directions as to-
	(a) the financial affairs and transactions to which the accounts are to relate,
	(b) the information to be contained in the accounts and the manner in which it is to be presented,
	(c) the methods and principles in accordance with which the accounts are to be prepared, and
	(d) the additional information (if any) that is to accompany the accounts.
	(4) Any accounts which the Assembly is directed under this section to prepare for any financial year shall be submitted by the Assembly to the Auditor General for Wales no later than five months after the end of that financial year.
	(5) The Auditor General for Wales shall-
	(a) examine and certify any accounts submitted to him under this section, and
	(b) no later than four months after the accounts are submitted to him, lay before the Assembly a copy of them as certified by him together with his report on them.
	(6) In examining any accounts submitted to him under this section, the Auditor General for Wales shall, in particular, satisfy himself-
	(a) that no expenditure to which the accounts relate has been incurred unlawfully or otherwise than in accordance with the authority which governs it, and
	(b) that money received by the Assembly for a particular purpose or particular purposes has not been expended otherwise than on that purpose or those purposes.
	(7) Where-
	(a) by virtue of any enactment other than this section the Assembly is under an obligation to prepare accounts dealing with any matters, and
	(b) it appears to the Treasury that those matters fall to be dealt with in accounts directed to be prepared under this section,
	the Treasury may relieve the Assembly of that obligation for or in respect of such periods as they may direct.
Accounting officers.	98. - (1) The Treasury shall designate a member of the Assembly's staff as the Assembly's principal accounting officer.
	(2) The Assembly's principal accounting officer shall have-
	(a) in relation to the Assembly's accounts and finances, and
	(b) in relation to the performance by persons designated as accounting officers under section 136(3)(a) of their responsibilities as accounting officers,
	the responsibilities which are from time to time specified by the Treasury.
	(3) The Treasury may designate other members of the Assembly's staff as additional accounting officers.
	(4) An additional accounting officer shall have-
	(a) in relation to such of the Assembly's accounts and finances as may be specified in the instrument by which he is designated, and
	(b) in relation to the performance by persons designated as accounting officers under section 136(3)(a) of their responsibilities as accounting officers,
	such responsibilities as may be specified in that instrument.
	(5) The responsibilities that may be specified under this section in relation to the Assembly's accounts and finances (or any of them) include in particular-
	(a) responsibilities in relation to the signing of accounts,
	(b) responsibilities for the propriety and regularity of the Assembly's finances, and
	(c) responsibilities for the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the Assembly uses its resources.
	(6) The responsibilities which may be specified under this section include responsibilities owed to-
	(a) the Assembly or the Audit Committee, or
	(b) the House of Commons or its Committee of Public Accounts,
	and in the case of an additional accounting officer include responsibilities owed to the Assembly's principal accounting officer.
Accounts of Assembly subsidiaries etc.	99. - (1) For the purposes of his examination of any accounts of the Assembly, the Auditor General for Wales-
	(a) shall have a right of access at all reasonable times to all the documents relating to the accounts of any Assembly subsidiary (whether or not the accounts of the Assembly being examined relate to the financial affairs and transactions of the subsidiary),
	(b) shall be entitled to require from any person holding or accountable for any of those documents any assistance, information or explanation which he reasonably thinks necessary for those purposes, and
	(c) may require any Assembly subsidiary to furnish him at times specified by him with accounts of such of the subsidiary's transactions as he may specify.
	(2) The Treasury may, by directions given to an Assembly subsidiary, require the subsidiary to include in any accounts which the subsidiary prepares (under, for example, the law relating to companies or charities) such additional information as may be specified in the directions.
	(3) Including information in any accounts in compliance with such directions shall not be treated as a breach of any provision which prohibits, or does not authorise, the inclusion in the accounts of that information.
	(4) In this section "Assembly subsidiary" means-
	(a) any body corporate in which the Assembly holds an interest,
	(b) any trust of which the Assembly is a settlor, or
	(c) any charitable institution of which the Assembly is a founder but which is neither a body corporate nor a trust.

Prepared 27 November 1997