7. Statement by the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee on the outgoing Auditor General for Wales

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:46 pm on 18 July 2018.

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Photo of Nick Ramsay Nick Ramsay Conservative 4:46, 18 July 2018

One certainty of life on the Public Accounts Committee is that Mike Hedges cannot leave it. He always ends up leaving and then coming back at some point, and I think you're probably one of the most experienced Members on that committee now, Mike.

You made some very valid points. In true Mike Hedges style, I rattled off a long list of successful reports the auditor general gave, and you've completed the list, actually, with a list of the public accounts reports that we've done on the back of the auditor general's reports, such as on the Circuit of Wales and a long list of others. But you're right, it is about casting a critical eye, and one of the reasons why I've enjoyed being Chair of public accounts so much is that it allows you to get away from the traditional political-type arguments that people expect us to have in this Chamber, and we rightly have, and it takes you into a cross-party area where we are not being critical of the Government because they are them and we are us, we are doing it because we are trying to highlight—trying to provide that critical eye that you spoke about and cast light on areas that have failed and then enable and allow the Welsh Government to improve those areas, either directly, if it's the Welsh Government that's gone slightly off the path, or if it's another organisation that is related—. That's one asset of the Public Accounts Committee. I know that we've had some witnesses before us over recent months and they've confessed to being terrified. We don't aim to terrify them, but I think it is the very idea of being in front of a public accounts committee, whether it be here or in Brazil or in Westminster, wherever it may be—it does carry a certain gravitas to it.

Working with the auditor general and his office has been a great privilege for me, and I'm sure I speak for Darren Millar, and previous Chairs who've worked with Huw. He has provided a robustness that has uniquely complemented the committee and allowed us to move forward as a committee and as an institution, and, as I said in my previous response to Adam, hopefully he will allow Wales to move forward a little bit too in terms of efficient spend of public money and delivering what the people of Wales expect from us.