Working with others

We are committed to working with other regulators and inspectorates across the UK to provide the most comprehensive and cost-effective audit and inspection service.

To help achieve this, we are signed-up members of:

• the Public Audit Forum - bringing together all of the UK's audit agencies;
• the Wales Improvement Board - charged with improving co-ordination of inspection, audit and regulation; and
• the Concordat between bodies inspecting, regulating and auditing health and social care.

Joint working in Wales

We work closely with other inspectorate bodies in Wales - such as Healthcare Inspectorate Wales, the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales and Estyn - to carry out joint reviews of health, social care and education services.

We are signed up to the all Wales Health Concordat and conduct the national schools survey with the Audit Commission each year.

We work in partnership with the Audit Commission and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) to inspect Police Authorities in Wales.

The Assembly Government has published a Policy Statement on Inspection, Audit and Regulation. It provides a helpful focal point for work which is already underway to strengthen existing mechanisms for planning and delivering external review work in a co-ordinated and proportionate manner.

We are now working together with other external regulators to see how we can take this collaboration even further.

UK audit bodies

Our joint working extends beyond Wales. We work with colleagues at the Audit Commission, National Audit Office, Audit Scotland, Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Care Quality Commission on a number of joint projects or to share information and knowledge.

For example, we carry out police inspections with the Audit Commission and HMIC. Also with the Audit Commission we undertake extensive data matching to identify potential fraud and corruption as well as benchmarking to highlight possible efficiencies within health bodies. We also work closely with the National Audit Office on a number of fronts including the publication of a high profile report into the Red Dragon project.

Working abroad

From time to time, we are asked to conduct studies with, or on behalf of, overseas organisations.

Our overseas work has included:

• Guernsey - review of good governance for the States' Public Accounts Committee;
• Ghana - supporting the development of the HR function and value for money audit in the Government Audit Service;
• Luxembourg - training to the Court of Auditors in the use of the Wales Audit Office's IADC audit methodology;
• Lithuania - supporting the development of a national anti corruption strategy; and
• Cayman Islands - financial audit training for staff of the Auditor General of the Cayman Islands.

For more information on our work overseas, please visit our commissioned work web page.