Public Audit (Wales) Act 2004

Public Audit (Wales) Act 2004

2004 CHAPTER 23

Territorial Extent and Devolution

Part 2, Chapter 2: Studies and Performance Standards

Studies

Section 41: Studies for improving economy, etc in services

87. This section requires the Auditor General to undertake or promote studies to enable him to make recommendations for improving the economy, efficiency and effectiveness, and the financial or other management, of local government bodies in Wales. The Auditor General may also undertake or promote other studies into the provision of services by those bodies. The studies that may be carried out under subsection (1) of the section include -

a)

studies to enable the Auditor General to determine what directions to make under section 47. Those directions require local government bodies to publish information relating to their performance. The aim is to allow the public to compare the performance of different bodies, or of the same body in different years;

b)

studies of information published in accordance with section 47 directions, to enable the Auditor General to determine what information he himself will publish making comparisons about the standards of performance achieved by different bodies, or the same bodies in different years.

88. Before undertaking a study under this section (except a study of a kind to which section 41(2)(a) or (b) applies) the Auditor General must consult any associations of local government bodies in Wales which appear to him to be concerned (e.g. the Welsh Local Government Association) and any associations of employees he considers to be appropriate.

89. The section also requires the Auditor General and the Assembly (in practice, the Assembly Social Services Inspectorate Wales) to co-operate with regard to studies carried out under this section or under sections 94 and 95 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003. Sections 94 and 95 of that Act give the Assembly functions of carrying out reviews and studies, in respect of local authority social services functions in Wales, of a kind similar to those which the Auditor General can carry out under section 41 of this Act. The duty of co-operation is, thus, intended to minimise the practical impact of the regulatory regime on the work of local authority social services departments.

90. The Auditor General must publish or otherwise make available the result of any studies, and any recommendations made by him as a result, under this section.