ACCOUNTS OF COUNCIL AND BOARDS (Hansard, 7 February 1979)

§ Mr. Moyle
I beg to move amendment no. 44, in page 12, line 40, after 'persons', insert '(qualified in accordance with Schedule 3A (Qualifications of auditors))'.

§ Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this we may take Government amendment no. 51.

§ Mr. Moyle
The amendment seeks to put into language that is acceptable to the parliamentary draftsmen the principles embodied in an amendment moved in Committee by the hon. Member for Wells (Mr. Boscawen). I promised the hon. Gentleman that we would accept the principles of his amendment, and we have now done so.

§ Mr. Boscawen
I have looked carefully at the amendment, and I am glad that it runs almost parallel with the wording of the amendment that we moved in Committee. I take it from what the Minister said that there is no variation of principle.
There are two important principles involved. We are dealing with a public body which has the right to prescribe fees payable to the public and we therefore believe that the audit of the accounts of that body should be conducted by independent persons.
The second important point is that the audit should not be carried out in a way that gives the Secretary of State absolute power to decide who is to audit the funds and how they are to be audited. The 498 amendment covers those matters and we are pleased to see it included in the Bill.