Clause 44 - Studies at request of local government bodies in Wales
Public Audit (Wales) Bill [Lords]
2:45 pm
Mr Don Touhig (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Wales), Department for Constitutional Affairs; Islwyn, Labour/Co-operative)
Amendment No. 35 would remove the requirement for a local government body in Wales to consult appropriate associations of employees before making a request to the Auditor General for him to undertake or promote an economy, efficiency and
effectiveness study in respect of it. Consultation is existing practice and therefore the amendment would be seen as draconian. It could seriously impede the conduct of a study and, as a consequence, devalue the results. Moreover, the absence of any requirement to consult would be in stark contrast to continuing practice in England.
This measure gives employee organisations the opportunity to express views that would be valuable to the conduct of the study, even if the association had concerns over its conduct. Such concerns may in themselves be informative to the study. I think the hon. Member will agree that consultation, even where an association may not necessarily agree with its rationale, is more positive than no consultation at all. I therefore believe that the amendment would be detrimental.