Dear colleague,
INTOSAI WORKING GROUP FOR THE AUDIT OF PRIVATISATION, ECONOMIC REGULATION & PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
I am writing to your SAI about a number of issues regarding the future work of the INTOSAI Working Group for the Audit of Privatisation, Economic Regulation and Public Private Partnerships. We would like to know whether any current members would be interested in taking over as Chair of the Working Group and also whether your SAI can take a role in developing new technical case studies for the Working Group. I would also like to take the opportunity to notify you of the proposed dates for the next annual meeting of the Group.
Chairmanship of the Working Group
As you will know, Sir John Bourn, chair of the Working Group, retired from his post as head of the UK National Audit Office at the end of January 2008. Sir John has been Chair of the Working Group since it was established in 1993.
In consultation with the new Comptroller and Auditor General, Tim Burr, we thought that Sir John’s retirement could present the Working Group with an opportunity to rotate the chair. The INTOSAI Committee Handbook 2007 suggests that Committees rotate the position of chair after a maximum of 6-9 years and that Task Force chairs should generally be appointed for a maximum of 3 years. While the handbook is not specific about the term of appointment for Working Group chairs, it is clearly best practice for us to consider whether there is another member SAI which would like to take over this role. We also consider that a change of chair could lead to benefits particularly from new perspectives on privatisation and related issues for members of the Group. It would also present an opportunity for another SAI to become more involved in the INTOSAI community. The UK would intend to remain a member of the Group.
Before any change could take place a formal proposal would need to be made to and approved by the INTOSAI Governing Board. This letter, however, is only to alert colleagues on the Working Group to our intentions and to make preliminary enquiries at a working level about whether the Head of your SAI might be interested in taking over as chair. Could you discuss this with your Head of SAI and let me know by 30 May 2008 if you wish to register an interest. If you have any questions about what is involved in chairing the Group please do not hesitate to contact me for an initial discussion. The current UK Secretariat of the Working Group would of course be pleased to assist fully any prospective new chair during a handover period if that would be helpful. We will also keep the INTOSAI Secretariat informed of this request and any subsequent developments.
Technical Case Study Development
As you will also know, the Group was set a new remit at XIX INCOSAI in Mexico last year. The Group’s new remit includes continuing to strengthen and develop the existing technical case studies. At our annual meeting in Marrakech last year the Group prioritised two new regulation-based case studies for development. We also discussed at the meeting how it would be beneficial to the Group if the case studies were based around more and varied SAI examples. It therefore seems sensible that we ask for a SAI to volunteer to take forward the development of the first of these new technical case studies on the topic of the importance of different regulatory structures. This would involve researching the topic, liaising with member SAIs on their own country examples for inclusion and writing up the case study in the agreed format used for this product. The UK Secretariat would be happy to offer support to any SAI who was interested in developing this product. Perhaps you could let me know if this opportunity was of interest to you or your staff?
Next Annual Meeting
Finally, I want to record our thanks to Dr Sergei Stepashin and the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation for their offer to host our next meeting in Moscow on 17-19 March 2009. The Chair and Secretariat are most grateful. Our Russian colleagues have asked for an early estimate of the likely number of participants at the meeting on those dates to help them in planning the event. Could you please let the Secretariat know by e-mail (PWG@nao.gsi.gov.uk) and by 9 May 2008 please, if the dates are convenient for your SAI; if your current intention would be to attend the meeting; and, if possible, the likely number of people in your delegation for the meeting.
I very much look forward to hearing from you on the matters above. In the meantime if you have any other questions about the current business of the Working Group do feel free to get in touch with the UK Secretariat team.
Yours sincerely,
Patricia Leahy
UK Secretariat for the Working Group