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 4:56 pm on 18 July 2018.

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Photo of Nick Ramsay Nick Ramsay Conservative 4:56, 18 July 2018

'The great auditors'—how do I follow that? I stand to be corrected, but I think it was Tony Blair who once said we cannot change our country without first changing ourselves. I might be wrong, but I think it was back when he was starting out and he first became Labour leader. I think the point you made about what the auditor general inherited with the Wales Audit Office as it was and the reputation that it had—clearly, it needed turning around for the good of government, for the good of Wales, for the good of everyone, and he achieved that. He first of all showed that the Wales Audit Office could meet the challenge and get on with the job of scrutinising everything else.

Yes, we do salute the outgoing auditor general, and we recognise that the next auditor general will have that tough act to follow. I think one thing is clear: yes, we've done a lot of hard-hitting reports over the last few years, and I know that Darren Millar and previous audit Chairs have also had their role to play in earlier reports, and that job is not going to get any easier—let's not pretend it will. The Assembly now has been with us for 20 years. We're looking at the transformation of this place into a Parliament, and it's going to become increasingly important for the Wales Audit Office to step up to the mark as well and renew itself.

It's interesting that Huw Vaughan Thomas leaves at a time when we have the situation here with the multiple leadership elections going on in the different parties. So, currently, the parties here are in a process of renewal and rejuvenation, which is so important to all parties, and so important to government.

I'm sure that Huw will rejuvenate himself once he's left the auditor general's office, and will very much appreciate the rest and a change of life. We've got to look to the future now. We've got to make sure that we get on with the job that we're tasked with, and it's not just a question of criticising the Government when we feel they've done wrong, it's a question of appreciating where Government gets it right as well. We have, of course, the great advantage on the Public Accounts Committee that we get to speak to the officials, not just the Minister—it's not just the Cabinet Secretaries, it's not just the headline, but it is what lies beneath that. It's the area that doesn't often get the publicity that it needs, and it's our job on the Public Accounts Committee, and indeed, of course, the other committees in the Assembly, to make sure that over the future months and years to come that light is shone on areas of public life that don't always get it, and we all work together to try and make Wales a little bit of a better place.