Member

We are fully aware of the potential conflicts of interest between the local audit office’s different functions, and we have already committed to implementing strong governance arrangements and ethical walls to mitigate these risks. Amendment 247 seeks to ensure that, if the local audit office directly delivers audits as the public provider—a decision that, as I have already mentioned, has not yet been made—its services are subject to the same standards, scrutiny and independent oversight as private firms in the market. While I agree with the principle of ensuring consistency across the mixed private and public local audit sector, I do not believe this amendment is necessary. Delivery model aside, this amendment is unnecessary because all local audit services, whether delivered by the public provider or private firms, will already be subject to the statutory requirements and professional auditing standards required by this Bill and the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.