§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State For Wales if he will make a statement on the discrepancies of his departmental approporiation accounts 1992–93, Paper 11-xi, identified by the Comptroller and Auditor General in his report of 2 December.
§ Mr. RedwoodThe Comptroller and Auditor General—C and AG—reported and qualified his audit opinion on three of the Welsh Office's 1992–93 appropriation accounts within class XVI. On vote 4, he found that
erroneous payments to Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) continue to exist at significant levels following the transfer of responsibility from the Department of Employmenton 1 April 1992; an understatement, as a result mainly of the incorrect assessment of benefit entitlements, of certain payments made through the Employment Service Agency—ESA. He notes in paragraphs 16-18 and 26-27 the efforts which my Department, TECs and the ESA have devoted to putting these matters right. I recently met the chairmen of all the TECs in Wales, to stress my determination that fully effective systems should be maintained. They agree with me.
On vote 5, the C and AG reported on the progress made in auditing the outstanding claims, brought to Parliament's attention when he qualified his opinion on the 1991–92 accounts, for payments made to highway authorities over the period from 1974 to 1990, and on clearance of claims relating to 1990–91. He has confirmed that the systems now in place have allowed the Welsh Office to record satisfactorily advances made since April 1990. Local authorities too should ensure they accurately record these sums and their use.
On vote 11, an error in the method of calculating sums due to authorities in respect of community charge grant let to four overpayments in March 1993; the sums were all recovered by 30 September.