§ The Chairman of Committees (Lord Tordoff)My Lords, I beg to move the Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ Moved, That the Seventh Report from the Select Committee (HL Paper 154) be agreed to.—(The Chairman of Committees.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
675§ Following is the report referred to:
§ 1. Freedom of Information: Publication Scheme
§ The Committee approved a draft publication scheme, prepared under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, for submission to the Information Commissioner and publication thereafter. It will be fully reviewed before the statutory right of access to information comes into effect in January 2005. A copy of the draft publication scheme has been placed in the Library.
§ 2. Audit Committee
§ The Committee was informed of the decision of the Finance and Staff Sub-Committee to appoint an Audit Committee with the following terms of reference:
- —To consider internal and external audit reports and other material, and to assess management responses thereto;
- —To recommend to the Accounting Officer a suitable annual internal audit work programme and to monitor progress against the audit plan;
- —To provide advice to the Accounting Officer in the exercise of his responsibilities;
- —To evaluate the adequacy of the risk management system and the suitability of the control arrangements reported to it, and to advise the Management Board accordingly;
- —To monitor value for money, good financial practice, appropriate internal controls, and effective governance throughout the administration of the House;
- —To make an annual report to the House; to be submitted, in the first instance, to the House Committee and to be published with the House of Lords' Annual Report.
§ The Members of the Audit Committee will be as follows:
- Lord Alexander of Weedon (Chairman)
- Lord Best
- Lord Christopher
- Lord Shutt of Greetland
- Dame Valerie Strachan (External Member)
§ 3. Management Board
§ The Committee was informed of the appointment of a Management Board, in accordance with the recommendations of the Fifth Report of the Offices Committee. The membership of the Board reflects the aims and objectives of the House of Lords' administration, with each member representing one of the following functions:
- —Parliamentary services;
- —Committee services;
- —Information services;
- —Administrative services;
- —Finance;
- —Human resources.
§ 4. Membership of Sub-Committee
§ The Committee appointed Lord Grocott to the Administration and Works and Refreshment Sub-Committees in place of Lord Carter, and Baroness Goudie to the Finance and Staff Sub-Committee in place of Baroness Andrews.