|
 |
| |
The ACiW Submission to the Richard Commission
on the Powers of the
National Assembly for Wales
Preface and Introduction
|
| The Audit Commission in Wales
("ACiW") is a key part of the framework of public service
regulation ("PSR") of Wales' public services. It is shortly
to join with the Wales part of the National Audit Office
to form a new body under the AuditorGeneral for Wales.
This change will bring ACiW fully within the governance
of Wales, and the ambit of the Assembly. It is a move
which is strongly supported by the Audit Commission. |
| PSR in Wales has a major role
in ensuring accountability, stewardship and effectiveness
in public services, and in helping them to improve. That
role will be strengthened when the legal framework of
PSR in Wales achieves greater clarity. |
| The Richard Commission is an
opportunity to consider how PSR can be a part of the overall
"Design for Governance and Excellence" in Wales, in at
least two ways. Firstly, PSR goes to the heart of the
Richard Commission's concern with possible extensions
of powers of the National Assembly. Four areas of PSR,
covering effectively the whole of the Assembly's functions,
are the subject of current, proposed, or likely future
legislation at Westminster. If the power to make that
legislation is to be exercised by the Assembly, PSR needs
to be underpinned by the key principles which should underpin
all external reviews of public services. |
| Secondly, greater powers for
the Assembly bring with them greater responsibility still
for making the right outcomes happen. Achieving that will
entail an overall design for governance and excellence,
including optimising the role that PSR can and should
play in creating better services and achieving better
outcomes. |
| The functions of the National
Assembly for Wales are overwhelmingly concerned with public
services and the quality of life of the people and communities
of Wales. PSR can play an active and a positive part in
that. To be effective, public service regulators must
be independent, impartial, authoritative, and committed
to reason and evidence. They must also be effective as
organisations, with skilled people and modern systems.
They must see their role as helping to reduce bureaucracy
and plans, and to develop a proportionate and efficient
regulatory regime which does not divert resources from
service delivery itself or from the improvement of service
delivery. |
| If public service regulators
can do this, they can play a useful role in the system
of , devolved governance and service delivery, as part
of "Team Wales" in helping to inform better policy, better
delivery, and better information to the public. |
Clive Grace
Director-General
Audit Commission in Wales
19 March 2003 |
Deri House, 2-4 Park Grove
Cardiff, CF10 3PA
029 2026 2641
c-grace@audit-commission.gov.uk |
| (Note: This Submission is built
on the principles which the Audit Commission built into
the Audit Commission in Wales, and which it wants to embed
in the future Public Service Regulatory Framework of Wales.
The Submission has not been considered in detail by the
Commission itself.) |
|
|
|
|
|
