§ The Secretary of State for Wales (Peter Hain)I am pleased to announce that on Thursday 3 April I intend to publish in draft form the Public Audit (Wales) Bill, together with draft explanatory notes.
The UK Government is committed to producing more of its Bills in draft form before they are formally introduced into Parliament. This allows advanced scrutiny of the Bill, as well as public consultation on the terms of the proposed legislation, which in turn helps the planning of the legislative process.
The Public Audit (Wales) Bill sets out proposals to unify the audit scrutiny of Welsh public bodies (including the National Assembly) in a single audit body to be known as the "Wales Audit Office" in English and "Y Swyddfa Archwilio Cymru". The Auditor General for Wales will head the organisation.
The Bill proposes bringing together the existing functions of the Auditor General for Wales and most of the functions currently exercised by the Audit Commission in Wales under the Wales Audit Office. Further details about the content and the public consultation will be given when the Bill is published on Thursday.