Budget Responsibility and National Audit Bill [Lords] – in a Public Bill Committee at 2:30 pm on 3 March 2011.
Chris Leslie
Shadow Minister (Treasury)
I have only a minor point, which is probably the final point in the debate on the Bill. I am curious because page 38 contains a number of changes to the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, and simultaneously IPSA is mentioned in paragraph 33. As hon. Members know, I should not have mentioned that acronym in Committee. That now means that the sky will fall in and the performance has been jinxed.
The provisions stretch quite a long way. Am I correct in presuming that the NAO has a role in auditing IPSA? I note that a provision is made about some of the board members of IPSA needing certain qualifications to be eligible, and I am not sure whether that has been spotted in the past. I raise this only because I thought that it would be interesting to Members.
Justine Greening
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury
The hon. Gentleman has raised a couple of interesting points. In setting up the new corporate body for the NAO we need to ensure that the other Laws into which it needs to fit are amended as appropriate. This part of the schedule contains a series of consequential technical amendments to existing legislation, which ensure that the establishment of the new NAO on a statutory footing fits into the existing legal framework of other Acts.
The hon. Gentleman has briefly mentioned IPSA. The qualification to be a board member was apparently defined by the reference to qualification to be able to audit the NAO.
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