By Paul Dicken
30 June 2010
The preferred candidate for the role of Welsh auditor general has said he would make the Wales Audit Office an ‘accessible and responsive’ organisation that tries to connect more with people in Wales.
At his pre-appointment hearing before the Welsh Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee on June 28, Huw Vaughan Thomas said he was ‘passionate about the ethos of public services in Wales’ and service excellence.
He said that under his leadership the WAO would be the ‘engine room’ of this drive for improvement. He suggested that the focus of inspection should be shifted from public sector institutions to the people accessing services.
‘We are here to provide a service, not because we owe any duty to the institutions we work in,’ Vaughan Thomas told AMs.
He added that the WAO had much more to do to raise awareness of its work among the wider population in Wales.
Vaughan Thomas also outlined his belief that the WAO should take the lead on public sector issues that relate to Wales.
‘It is important that the public services are able to draw their messages, their guidance, their comments from a single perspective and not have the complexity of double reporting,’ he said.
Concerns were raised under the previous auditor general about employee relations and staffing issues, partly attributed to the merger of the National Audit Office in Wales and the Audit Commission. Vaughan Thomas said he had almost had a ‘career working in change management’ and would provide leadership and empower staff.
‘My role is to provide leadership to [a] complex organisation, not necessarily second-guess them,’ he later added.
PAC chair Jonathan Morgan said the committee had taken a stronger role in the nomination and it was the first time a nominee for a public appointment had appeared before committee members in this way.
If Vaughan Thomas secures a nomination from the committee, the appointment will go before the full assembly for approval on July 13.
