The Local Audit (Auditor Panel) Regulations 2014
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
2014No. 3224
LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ENGLAND AND WALES
The Local Audit (Auditor Panel) Regulations 2014
5thDecember2014
10thDecember2014
1stApril2015
The Secretary of State makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by section 10(8) of, and paragraphs 4 and 5(1)(b) of Schedule 4 to, the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014( 1):
Citation, commencement, interpretation and application
1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Local Audit (Auditor Panel) Regulations 2014 and come into force on 1st April 2015.
(2) In these Regulations-
"the Act" means the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014;
"the 1972 Act" means the Local Government Act 1972( 2);
"the 1989 Act" means the Local Government and Housing Act 1989( 3).
(3) These Regulations apply to relevant authorities other than health service bodies( 4).
Members of auditor panels
2. (1) An auditor panel of a relevant authority must have three or more members.
(2) A person may only be appointed as an independent member of an auditor panel if-
(a) the vacancy for an independent member has been advertised by the relevant authority in such manner as it considers is likely to bring the vacancy to the attention of the public; and(b) the person submitted an application to fill the vacancy to the relevant authority.(3) If the relevant authority is a local authority operating executive arrangements( 5), the function of appointing members of an auditor panel is not the responsibility of an executive of the authority under those arrangements.
(4) If the relevant authority is a local authority within the meaning of section 101 of the 1972 Act (arrangements for discharge of functions), that section does not apply to the authority's function of appointing members of an auditor panel.
(5) If the relevant authority is the Greater London Authority, the function of appointing members of an auditor panel to fill casual vacancies must be exercised by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly acting jointly on behalf of the Authority.
(6) If the relevant authority is a parish meeting, the function of appointing members of an auditor panel to fill casual vacancies must be exercised by the parish meeting itself (and not by its chairman on behalf of the parish meeting).
Term of office of panel members
3. The term of office of a member of an auditor panel is to be determined by the relevant authority which appoints that panel member.
Removal of panel members on disqualification
4. Where a member of an auditor panel, or its chair, becomes disqualified from being a member of an auditor panel by virtue of regulation 8, the relevant authority which appointed that member must-
(a) remove the disqualified member or chair from the auditor panel where that member has not already resigned or agreed to resign; and(b) appoint a person to fill the vacancy.Allowances of panel members
5. A relevant authority may pay the members of its auditor panel such allowances as the authority may determine.
Proceedings and validity of proceedings of auditor panels
6. (1) Subject to paragraph (2), an auditor panel may determine its own proceedings( 6).
(2) In relation to any meeting of an auditor panel-
(a) the quorum is three, and(b) the proceedings of the panel are valid if the majority of members present at the meeting are independent members of the panel.Functions of auditor panels: further details
7. (1) In complying with its duties under section 10(1) to (3) of the Act a relevant authority's auditor panel must advise the authority on-
(a) whether to adopt a policy on the purchasing, from the authority's local auditor, of non-audit services;(b) if the authority proposes to adopt such a policy, on its contents, including-(i) the circumstances in which the authority should ask the auditor panel for advice in connection with the purchasing of non-audit services; and(ii) the circumstances in which the authority should or should not purchase non-audit services from the authority's local auditor.(2) In this regulation "non-audit services" in relation to a relevant authority means services provided by the authority's local auditor to the authority other than in the exercise of the functions of the local auditor under the Act( 7).
Application of local authority enactments to auditor panels: disqualification
8. (1) This regulation applies where a relevant authority to which this regulation applies has an auditor panel which is-
(a) a panel appointed...To continue reading
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