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Expenditure Act 2000

Assent: 12 September 2000
Commencement: 09 October 2000

REPUBLIC OF VANUATU

EXPENDITURE REVIEW AND AUDIT (AMENDMENT) ACT

NO. 36 2000

Arrangement of Sections

1. Amendment of long title
2. Amendment of section 2
3. Deletion of Part heading and substitution of new heading
4. Repeal of sections and substitution of new sections
5. Amendment of section 9
6. Amendment of section 14
7. Amendment of section 16
8. Insertion of new section
8A. Repeal of sections
9. Commencement.

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REPUBLIC OF VANUATU

EXPENDITURE REVIEW AND AUDIT (AMENDMENT) ACT

NO. 36 2000

An Act to amend the Expenditure Review and Audit Act No. 3 of 1998 (the "Principal Act").

BE IT ENACTED by the President and Parliament as follows:

Amendment of long title

1. The long title of the Principal Act is amended by deleting "to establish an Expenditure Review Committee and" and substituting "to provide for a committee to review public expenditure and establish the".

Amendment of section 2

2. Section 2 of the Principal Act is amended by:

(a) deleting "Expenditure Review Committee" from the definition of "Chairperson" in subsection (1) and substituting "Committee"; and

(b) deleting from subsection (1) the definition of "Committee" and substituting the following definition:

""Committee" means the Public Accounts Committee established under the Standing Orders of the Parliament;".

Deletion of Part heading and substitution of new heading

3. The heading to Part II of the Principal Act is deleted and the following heading is substituted:

"PART 2 - PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE
TO REVIEW PUBLIC EXPENDITURE".

Repeal of sections and substitution of new sections

4. Sections 4, 5 and 6 of the Principal Act are repealed and the following sections are substituted:

"Public Accounts Committee

4. (1) The Committee has such functions, duties and powers as are conferred on it by this Act.

(2) To avoid doubt, subsection (1) does not limit any functions, duties or powers conferred on the Committee by the Standing Orders of the Parliament.

Chairperson of the Committee

5. (1) The Chairperson of the Committee is to be a member of the Parliament who:

(a) is not a member of the Government; and

(b) has the capacity to discharge the functions of the Chairperson; and

(c) has an understanding of government.

(2) The Chairperson is to be appointed by the Parliament.

(3) If the Parliament is not in session and the position of Chairperson is vacant, the Speaker of the Parliament may appoint a member of the Parliament who satisfies the criteria in subsection (1) to act as the Chairperson until the Parliament appoints the Chairperson.

(4) If the Chairperson of the Committee becomes a member of the Government, the Chairperson is taken to have resigned from the Committee on that event occurring. A new member of the Parliament must be appointed as the Chairperson in accordance with this section.

(5) The Chairperson may at any time resign as Chairperson by notice in writing addressed to the Prime Minister.

(6) Without limiting sections 7 and 8, the Chairperson ceases to be the Chairperson when the Committee ceases to exist in accordance with the Standing Orders of the Parliament.".

Amendment of section 9

5. Section 9 of the Principal Act is amended by:

(a) deleting subsection (1) and substituting the following subsections:

"(1) In addition to the Chairperson, the Committee is to comprise not more than 6 other members who must be members of Parliament appointed by the Parliament.

(1A) If the Parliament is not in session and there are vacant positions on the Committee, the Speaker of the Parliament acting on the recommendations of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition can appoint members of the Parliament to act as members of the Committee until such time as the Parliament appoints members of the Committee."; and

(b) deleting subsection (5) and substituting the following subsection:

"(5) Without limiting section 10, a member of the Committee ceases to be a member when the Committee ceases to exist in accordance with the Standing Orders of the Parliament.".

Amendment of section 14

6. Section 14 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting after paragraph (2)(b) the following paragraph:

"(ba) to review and comment on annual reports prepared under paragraph 20(1)(h) of the Public Service Act No. 11 of 1998;"

Amendment of section 16

7. Section 16 of the Principal Act is amended by:

(a) deleting from subsection (2) ", who may within 7 days add comments thereto"; and

(b) inserting after subsection (2) the following subsections:

"(2A) The Director-General of the ministry, or the head of the agency or local authority or minister affected by a report must, within 28 days after receiving the report, provide written comments to the Committee on the following matters:

(a) the actions proposed to be taken to rectify any non-compliance with the Public Finance and Economic Management Act No. 6 of 1998 and any other relevant law that has been identified in the report;

(b) all reported offences and penalties imposed under the Public Finance and Economic Management Act No. 6 of 1998 and any other law;

(c) such other matters that are specified in writing by the Committee.

(2B) The Committee may:

(a) amend its report in response to any comments received under subsection (2A); and

(b) exercise all or any of its powers under section 15 in relation to any comments provided under subsection (2A) (eg the Committee could summon a person to appear to answer questions about any comments relating to public expenditure and public money in accordance with paragraph 15(1)(d))."; and

(c) deleting from subsection (3) "the comments made under subsection (2)" and substituting "the comments made under subsection (2A)"; and

(d) inserting after subsection (3) the following subsection:

"(3A) The Director-General of the ministry, or the head of the agency or local authority or minister affected by a report mentioned in subsection (2) must, within 6 months after receiving the report or such longer period as the Committee approves in writing, provide a written statement to the Committee setting out the following:

(a) how the proposed action under paragraph (2A)(a) has been implemented;

(b) if the proposed action has not been implemented – the reasons for this and details of how and when it will be implemented.".

Insertion of new section

8. After section 16 of the Principal Act the following section is inserted:

"Statement of action to be included in annual report

16A The Director-General of a ministry must include in the annual report required under paragraph 20(1)(h) of the Public Service Act No. 11 of 1998 a statement setting out the actions that have been taken during the year to which the report relates to rectify any matters raised by a report of the Public Accounts Committee.".

Repeal of sections

8A. Sections 7 and 10 of the Principal Act are repealed.

Commencement

9. This Act commences on the day on which it is published in the Gazette.

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