Government of Wales Act 2006

Expenditure

Section 143 : Audit Committee Reports

510. The Audit Committee of the Assembly can consider, and report to the Assembly on, any accounts, statement of accounts or report laid before the Assembly by the AGW or the AGW’s own auditor (subsection (1)).

511. Thus, in addition to the scrutiny of accounts by the AGW, and the AGW’s power to examine and report on the value for money achieved by the Welsh Ministers or the Assembly Commission, the Audit Committee may provide a further level of scrutiny, based on the findings of the AGW. This power of the Audit Committee also extends to other reports and accounts, and reports of examinations, which the AGW will lay before the Assembly. These include examinations into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which a body or office specified in Schedule 17 to the Government of Wales Act 1998 has used its resources in discharging its functions, or reports on the accounts of Welsh NHS bodies, as defined in section 60 of the Public Audit (Wales) Act 2004 (c.23).

512. In addition to these powers of the Audit Committee, the Committee can take evidence, if requested to do so, on behalf of the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts, and report its findings to that Committee. The Committee of Public Accounts can take evidence from devolved Welsh public bodies, and would usually do so on the basis of a report from the Comptroller and Auditor General (see section 136). The persons from whom the Audit Committee can take evidence under this power are:

a)

the principal accounting officer for the Welsh Ministers;

b)

the principal accounting officer for the Assembly Commission, and

c)

any additional accounting officer designated by either of them.