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Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 (Audit of Non-profit-making Companies) Order 2009

I was delighted when I saw that the noble Lord, Lord James, was present because I thought it would impossible for us to proceed on these issues without the millennium edifice being part of our discussion. I am grateful for the point that he raised. I hope that I will answer it in a moment, after I collect my thoughts. I thank the two Front Benchers for their general welcome. I confirm to the noble Lord, Lord Howard, that it is compulsory for the NDPBs to be subject to this audit. The noble Lord, Lord Razzall, raised wider issues and said how delighted he was by the point that the noble Lord, Lord James, made. If, by that, he is threatening me by saying that he would otherwise have made it, I shall be even more anxious when he arrives at these Committees than I have been in the past. The noble Lord raised a significant issue, and no one, certainly not me, is going to come close to the expertise of the noble Lord, Lord James, in regard to that development. I emphasise that ordinary company and insolvency law is not affected by this order. It applies to the C&AG audit only and is very limited in its scope. The noble Lord, Lord Razzall, asked me to follow up the noble Lord, Lord Sharman, and deal with anxieties about the BBC. On occasion, I spend part of my time dealing with anxieties about the BBC, but I had not anticipated it coming within the orbit of this order. The noble Lord will recognise that the particular constitutional structure and answerability of the BBC puts it outside the normal range of NDPBs. If it were not, he, I and all noble Lords would be very anxious about its independence and the role of the trust, the director-general and his staff in preserving it. I shall have to look again at the anxieties of the noble Lord, Lord Sharman, on this, but quite a bit of water has gone under the bridge in terms of the governance of the BBC since he reported. I am wary of trading on my own ignorance, but I had the enormous pleasure of being involved in the Broadcasting Act, and I cannot remember this issue cropping up in that context. I do not think that there was anxiety in the House, and there was an extensive range of expertise available to us when we discussed the BBC. I see the noble Baroness, Lady Bonham-Carter, in her place, and she played her full part. I do not recall her referring to this dimension. I think that all that was dealt with in the charter review. The noble Lord will have to brush up on that some time and get someone to advise him on the matter. I emphasise that I do not think that the order gives rise to the anxieties that the noble Lord, Lord James, has voiced. Particularly if he lets me know in advance that he is going to raise an issue, I am always careful to let my officials know that we had better be primed to respond to him.