Audit Committee, 03 Sep 2002
Meeting date: Tuesday, September 3, 2002
Official Report
120KB pdf
National Assembly for Wales (Meeting)
Item 7 is a report on a meeting of the convener with members of the National Assembly for Wales. I refer members to the written report for the details. However, I would like to thank publicly the chairman, Dafydd Wigley, the committee members and staff of the National Assembly for Wales. I also thank the staff of the National Audit Office for their warm welcome and the assistance that they gave to us so freely.
We witnessed both private and public committee sessions and gained insight into their decision-making and evidence-taking procedures. We discussed, for example, the National Assembly's aims of securing savings in public expenditure through its NAO inquiry reports. We also discussed some differences in procedures, such as the preparation of reports by the NAO, rather than the committee clerks, and the committee's practice of meeting monthly. It is clear that the Assembly's Audit Committee is closer to the Public Accounts Committee in Westminster in its modus operandi.
Our visit was enhanced by the contribution of the Auditor General for Scotland and his exchange of information and views with Sir John Bourn, the Comptroller and Auditor-General for England and Wales, will bear fruit in the future. We have built a very strong basis for future dialogue and, given the permission of the conveners liaison group, that will be further reinforced in our visit to Wales. We hope that Dafydd Wigley and his committee will visit us in Scotland.
I was going to ask about that. Dafydd Wigley is retiring next May so it would be good to have him to visit before he goes. I am sure that you will share that sentiment, convener.
Indeed, I have known Dafydd for many years.
Meeting continued in private until 14:34.