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Section 46: Audit.

Environment Act 1995 · 1995 c. 25View on legislation.gov.uk

Part I: The Environment Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency — Chapter III: Miscellaneous, General and Supplemental Provisions Relating to the New Agencies and the Natural Resources Body for Wales

The accounts of each new Agency, with the exception of those accounts of the Agency that relate to a financial year ending on or after 31st March 2004, shall be audited by an auditor appointed for each accounting year by the Secretary of State.

A person shall not be qualified for appointment under subsection (1) above unless—

he is eligible for appointment as a statutory auditor under Part 42 of the Companies Act 2006 ; and
if the appointment were an appointment as a statutory auditor, he would not be prohibited from acting by virtue of section 1214 of that Act (independence requirement).

A copy of—

any accounts of a new Agency which are audited under subsection (1) above, and
the report made on those accounts by the auditor,

shall be sent to each of the appropriate Ministers as soon as reasonably practicable after the report is received by the new Agency; and the Secretary of State shall lay before each House of Parliament a copy of those accounts and that report.

The Agency shall send a copy of its accounts in respect of each financial year ending on or after 31st March 2004 to the Comptroller and Auditor General as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of the financial year to which the accounts relate.

The Comptroller and Auditor General shall examine, certify and report on any accounts sent to him by the Agency under subsection (3A) and shall lay before each House of Parliament a copy of those accounts and his report on them.

The Comptroller and Auditor General—

shall be entitled to inspect the contents of all accounts and accounting records of a new Agency; and
may report to the House of Commons the results of any inspection carried out by him under paragraph (a) above;

and section 6 of the National Audit Act 1983 (examinations of economy, efficiency and effectiveness) accordingly applies to each new Agency.

In this section—

  • " accounting records " has the same meaning as in section 45 above;

  • " accounting year " has the same meaning as in section 45 above;

  • " accounts ", in relation to the Agency, includes any statement under section 45 above.

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This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.