Audit Committee, 05 Mar 2002
Meeting date: Tuesday, March 5, 2002
Official Report
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Subordinate Legislation
Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 (Consequential Modifications) <br />Order 2002
I welcome the Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Services, Mr Peter Peacock, and invite him to speak to and move motion S1M-2736.
I hope that members will agree that the order is a straightforward technical matter of tidying up existing arrangements, but only time will tell whether that is the case.
As members will be aware, the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 modified legislation that set up statutory bodies such as some non-departmental public bodies and health service bodies so that their accounts would be audited by the Auditor General for Scotland. Some bodies were inadvertently omitted from the modifications, but section 26 of the 2000 act allows ministers to amend by order enactments that relate to part 2 of the 2000 act.
We are making the present order to tidy up provisions and arrangements for the auditing of certain accounts, in particular the accounts of the Scottish Tourist Board and accounts that are prepared by ministers in relation to the Erskine Bridge Tolls Act 1968 and non-domestic rating, which the Scotland Act 1998 states must be audited by the Auditor General for Scotland. The existing provisions must be tidied up so that they conform to sections 21 and 22 of the 2000 act. The order's proposed modifications would do that.
The Scottish Hospital Endowments Research Trust currently employs its own auditors. The audit provisions of similar authorised bodies were modified by the 2000 act, so that instead of appointing their own auditors, their accounts must be sent by ministers to be audited by the Auditor General for Scotland. The order's proposed modifications would allow that to be done for the trust's accounts.
I move,
That the Audit Committee, in consideration of the draft Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 (Consequential Modifications) Order 2002, recommends that the order be approved.
The order is a tidying-up measure that creates a straightforward duty to report accounts to Audit Scotland, and hence open them to public scrutiny and accountability. As it seems that members have no questions, I will put the question.
The question is, that motion S1M-2736, in the name of Andy Kerr, be agreed to. All those in favour say aye, those to the contrary say no.
Motion agreed to.
The ayes have it.
I remind members that the next meeting will be on Tuesday 19 March at 2 pm in committee room 1.
Meeting closed at 15:55.