Agenda and minutes

1.1 The Chair welcomed Members to the meeting of the Finance Committee.

1.2 Mike Hedges MS declared that he is the Chair of the Senedd’s Cross-Party Group on the Public & Commercial Service Union (PCS).

2.1 The papers were noted.

Adrian Crompton, Auditor General for Wales, Audit Wales

Kathryn Chamberlain, Chair of the Wales Audit Office, Audit Wales

Kevin Thomas, Executive Director of Corporate Services

Ann-Marie Harkin, Executive Director of Audit Services

Supporting documents:

FIN(6)-14-23 P1 - Audit Wales: Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23

FIN(6)-14-23 P2 - Audit Wales: Audit Findings report – Year Ended 31 March 2023

FIN(6)-14-23 P3 - Audit Wales: Annual Plan 2023-24

Research Service Brief

3.1 The Committee took evidence on Audit Wales’s Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23 and the Annual Plan 2024-25 from the Auditor General for Wales; Chair of the Wales Audit Office; and Audit Wales officials.

3.2 Audit Wales agreed to provide:

·         Further detail on the staff turnover rate across the organisation during the previous twelve months, including a breakdown of the roles of those departing staff and the number of qualified audit staff leaving the organisation within that time.

4.1 The motion was agreed.

Adrian Crompton, Auditor General for Wales, Audit Wales

Kathryn Chamberlain, Chair of the Wales Audit Office, Audit Wales

Kevin Thomas, Executive Director of Corporate Services

Ann-Marie Harkin, Executive Director of Audit Services

Supporting documents:

FIN(6)-14-23 P4 – Audit Wales - Supplementary Estimate 2023-24

FIN(6)-14-23 P5 – Letter from the Minister for Finance and Local Government: Cost of living payment – 1 August 2023

FIN(6)-14-23 P6 – Letter to the Minister for Finance and Local Government: Cost of living payment – 11 July 2023

5.1 The Committee discussed Audit Wales’s Supplementary Estimate 2023-24 with the Auditor General for Wales; Chair of the Wales Audit Office; and Audit Wales officials.

Jonathan Athow, Director General of Customer Strategy & Tax Design, HMRC

Katherine Gross-Niklaus, Senior Policy Advisor for Devolved Income Tax, HMRC

Supporting documents:

FIN(6)-14-23 P7 – HMRC

Research Service Brief

6.1 The Committee received a technical briefing on administering WRIT from Jonathan Athow, Director General of Customer Strategy & Tax Design, HMRC; and Katherine Gross-Niklaus, Senior Policy Advisor for Devolved Income Tax, HMRC.

7.1 The Committee considered the evidence received.

8.1 The Committee considered the evidence received and agreed to write to Audit Wales in relation to the Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23; and the Supplementary Estimate 2023-24.

8.1 The Committee considered the evidence received and agreed to write to Audit Wales regarding the Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23 and the Supplementary Estimate 2023-24.

Supporting documents:

FIN(6)-14-23 P8 – Cover paper

FIN(6)-14-23 P9 – Letter from the Minister for Finance and Local Government – 6 July 2023

FIN(6)-14-23 P10 - Land Disposals Tax (Wales) Act 2017: Independent review – Executive summary

Land Disposals Tax (Wales) Act 2017: Independent review (PDF 2 MB)

9.1 The Committee considered the issues arising from the independent review of Landfill Disposals Tax and agreed to write to the Minister for Finance and Local Government requesting a further update.

Supporting documents:

FIN(6)-14-23 P11 - Update on the Interparliamentary Finance Committee Forum

10.1 The Committee considered the paper on the Interparliamentary Finance Committee Forum.

Supporting documents:

FIN(6)-14-23 P12 - Update on the Senedd Reform Bill

11.1 The Committee considered the paper on the scrutiny arrangements of the financial implications of The Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill.