Although this debate relates to issues on the awarding of a contract by NRW, the Finance Committee wishes to contribute on one issue, briefly, to this debate, because there were delays before the auditor general laid the annual accounts of NRW, and this is a cause of concern to the Finance Committee.

The background to this is that the auditor general is required to report on the accounts within four months of the date of NRW laying the accounts, but in this instance this wasn’t possible due to the auditor general investigating the issues associated with the awarding of the contract. That’s the purpose of the Public Accounts Committee’s report. On this occasion, the auditor general didn’t meet his statutory deadline in terms of laying his report of the accounts.

This situation has highlighted the lack of provision for the auditor general to request an extension to the statutory four-month deadline should any issues arise with the audit of accounts. This situation is not unique to NRW. In fact, in recent years the Assembly has passed various pieces of legislation establishing bodies such as the Welsh Revenue Authority, Social Care Wales, and Qualifications Wales, which all include this four-month statutory deadline with no provision whatsoever for extension. We believe as a Finance Committee that this is a clear oversight in Welsh legislation. I’ve written, therefore, to the Chair of the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee and the First Minister regarding the establishment of bodies generally by the Welsh Government. This is particularly important when bodies are created through establishment Orders, as was the case with Natural Resources Wales, rather than through primary legislation.

I’m pleased that the First Minister has confirmed that Welsh Government officials have started to discuss the technical and legislative implications with the Wales Audit Office, and that they will be working together in order to arrive at a way forward. We look forward to receiving more information from the First Minister on the actions being taken once these officials and the Wales Audit Office have undertaken this work. Thank you.