Part II E+W Accounts and Audit of Public Bodies

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 Pt. II: Power to apply conferred (31.8.2000) by 1997 c. 25, s. 59D(4)(b) (as inserted (31.8.2000) by 1999 c. 22, s. 83(2) (with Sch. 14 para. 7(2)); S.I. 2000/1920, art. 3(b))

Pt. II (ss. 2-32) applied (with modifications) (1.4.2001) by S.I. 2001/734, art. 2

Pt. II (ss. 2-32) modified (1.4.2001) by S.I. 2001/734, art. 3

C2 Pt. II modified (5.3.2008) by The Cheshire (Structural Changes) Order 2008 (S.I. 2008/634), arts. 1, 9(9)(a)

C3 Pt. II modified (28.3.2008) by The Bedfordshire (Structural Changes) Order 2008 (S.I. 2008/907), arts. 1, 20(7)(a)

Auditors’ reports and recommendations E+W

13 Additional publicity for immediate reports. E+W

(1) This section applies where under section 10(1) an auditor has sent an immediate report to a body or its chairman, except where the body is a health service body.

(2) From the time when the report is received by virtue of section 10(1), any member of the public may—

(a) inspect the report at all reasonable times without payment,

(b) make a copy of it, or of any part of it, and

(c) require the body or chairman to supply him with a copy of it, or of any part of it, on payment of a reasonable sum.

(3) On receiving the report by virtue of section 10(1), the body or (if a parish meeting) its chairman shall forthwith publish in one or more local newspapers circulating in the area of the body a notice which—

(a) identifies the subject-matter of the report, and

(b) states that any member of the public may inspect the report and make a copy of it or any part of it between such times and at such place or places as are specified in the notice;

and the body, if not a parish meeting, shall in addition forthwith supply a copy of the report to every member of the body.

(4) The auditor may—

(a) notify any person he thinks fit of the fact that he has made the report, and

(b) supply a copy of it or of any part of it to any person he thinks fit.

(5) A person who has the custody of an immediate report and—

(a) obstructs a person in the exercise of a right conferred by subsection (2)(a) or (b), or

(b) refuses to supply a copy of the report or of part of it (as the case may be) to a person entitled to the copy by virtue of subsection (2)(c),

is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

(6) A person who fails to comply with a requirement of subsection (3) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

(7) Nothing in this section affects the operation of section 10(4) to (6).