Committee on Standards in Public Life: Getting the balance right: Implementing standards of conduc…
R10-10
Published January 2005
Response position and delivery status are recorded separately. Acceptance does not establish implementation.
Recommendation (the Committee's words)
We recommend that The Responsibilities of an Accounting Officer and the Ministerial Code be amended to make reference to the explicit responsibility of permanent secretaries, as accounting officers for the propriety of public appointments made by their departments.
From: Committee on Standards in Public Life, Getting the balance right: Implementing standards of conduct in public life, January 2005
Government response
Government response (the government's words)
As the Cabinet Secretary made clear in his evidence to the Committee, the role of the permanent secretary is not just the guardian of the financial propriety as accounting officer but of the reputation of the department for integrity. If there is a problem with an appointment, the relevant permanent secretary should be involved. The Government agrees that there would be benefit in spelling out this responsibility in a more explicit way but feels that the more appropriate vehicle to do this is in the letter from the Cabinet Secretary to Permanent Secretaries on their appointment rather than the Responsibilities of an Accounting Officer and the relevant section in the Ministerial Code as these deal with the propriety and regularity of the public finances rather than appointments processes.
From: HM Government. Source document ↗