Schedule 1
Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill
10:45 am
Ian McCartney (Minister of State (Trade & Investment), Department of Trade and Industry; Makerfield, Labour)
I beg to move amendment No. 59, in schedule 1, page 53, line 7, leave out from ‘(b)’ to ‘before’ and insert
‘send a copy of the certified statement and the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report to the Secretary of State, who shall lay them’.
I do not propose to detain the Committee long on the amendment, which is minor and of a technical nature, making the Department rather than the Comptroller and Auditor General responsible for laying the new national consumer council’s accounts before Parliament. As presently drafted, paragraph 32 of schedule 1 requires the Comptroller and Auditor General to examine, certify and report on each statement of accounts received from the new NCC. The Comptroller and Auditor General must then lay a copy of each statement and of the report before Parliament.
Discussions between my Department and the National Audit Office suggested that the requirement to lay copies of all the accounts and associatedreports before Parliament should be the responsibility of the Department rather than of the Comptrollerand Auditor General. Under the provisions of the amendment, the council will send a copy of the statement of accounts to the Secretary of Stateand to the Comptroller and Auditor General under paragraph 32(3) of schedule 1. Having examined, certified and reported on the statement of accounts, the Comptroller and Auditor General will then send a copy of the certified accounts and of the report to the Secretary of State, who will be responsible for laying copies before Parliament.
Precedent for the revised arrangements has been set with other newly created bodies, such as in the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 for Natural England and in the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 for the Olympic Delivery Authority. The Secretary of State is responsible for laying the accounts of those new bodies. The amendment therefore brings the new council into line with other newly created bodies. In short, the Comptroller and Auditor General has two requirements: to certify the accounts; and to report his or her opinion of the accounts to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State has two requirements: a duty to lay the accounts and the report before Parliament; and to report the Comptroller and Auditor General’s opinion of the accounts to Parliament. As usual, they will be laid before both Houses.