Clause 16 - Code of audit practice
Public Audit (Wales) Bill [Lords]
11:00 am
Mr Bill Wiggin (Shadow Secretary of State for Wales, Local and Devolved Government Affairs; Leominster, Conservative)
This is a busy morning for some of us. In speaking to amendment No. 27, I shall include amendment No. 28. They are probing amendments concerning the audit practice code in clause 16.
Amendment No. 27 seeks to delete subsection (4) in order to ascertain the Assembly's role in relation to the audit practice code. Before the Assembly gives its approval, can it amend the code? If it could, that would undermine the Auditor General's authority.
Amendment No. 28 removes subsection (7), because even after the code has been issued by the Auditor General, and has been approved by the Assembly, either House of Parliament can annul the code by statutory instrument. Can the Minister explain why that power is included, and in what circumstances it might be used?