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Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. A240: "Page 390, line 20, at end insert—" ““(   )   the Audit Commission,”” The noble Baroness said: Amendment No. A240 adds the Audit Commission to the list of Auditors General who are eligible for appointment as statutory auditor. This is a probing amendment designed to ascertain the Government’s precise thinking behind the extension of statutory auditors. I am aware that Chapter 3 of Part 33 is designed to fulfil the Government’s acceptance of the report by the noble Lord, Lord Sharman, on public sector audit. While the report was focused on the Comptroller and Auditor General, he said that similar arrangements should be introduced for local government. The Auditors General listed in Clause 823(1) have rather different scopes. In particular, the Auditor General for Wales and the Auditor General for Scotland cover audits of local authorities and NHS bodies along with their central government and NDPBs. Hence, the Bill will empower them to audit companies in any circumstance. In England, the Audit Commission is an entirely separate body that audits local authorities and many of the bodies in the NHS. The Government’s response to the report of the noble Lord, Lord Sharman, indicated that those arrangements would be reviewed, but the Audit Commission has been excluded from Part 33. While the Audit Commission uses private sector firms which are also qualified statutory auditors, the majority of the Audit Commission’s work is carried out by in-house auditors who would almost certainly not be able to audit local authority companies unless the rules were changed to enable them to do so. So will the Minister explain the rationale for restricting the extension of public sector audit within England? I beg to move.