I beg to move

That this Assembly orders that any report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, which has been prepared under Article 8 of the Audit (NI) Order 1987 for presentation to the Northern Ireland Assembly in accordance with Article 11 of that Order, be printed and published under the authority of the Assembly.

Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle.

The motion addresses the issue of privilege of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s reports. Until devolution, all his publications were ordered to be published by the Westminster Parliament and were, therefore, privileged. That clearly represents good practice in public-sector audit, as it allows the Comptroller and Auditor General to give a full and complete report of his findings to the legislature.

To date, most of the main reports, which the Public Accounts Committee has taken evidence on and reported, have been fully covered by privilege, as they were published by order of the Westminster Parliament. It would have been difficult to bring several of those reports to the Committee without that status. Indeed, there are a number of Northern Ireland Audit Office reports that deal with potentially controversial issues, and it is important that those should be published with the authority of the Assembly.

In light of that, I am sure that Members will agree that it is important that we ensure that the arrange­ments for audit and accountability under the Assembly are at least as robust as those that existed under direct rule.

In due course, consideration will be given to reflecting the arrangement in Standing Orders or, if an opportunity arises, in legislation. However, until such times, this motion will provide the Comptroller and Auditor General with the necessary privilege — subject to the Assembly’s resolution today — to publish all future reports and, through that process, to ensure that we receive the quality of information from the auditors that is necessary to carry out our work.

I, therefore, commend the motion to the House.