FINANCE GUIDANCE NOTE 2009-05
RESPONSIBILITIES OF ACCOUNTABLE OFFICERS
The purpose of this note is to announce the publication of updated memoranda determining the responsibilities of Accountable Officers designated by the Permanent Secretary of the Scottish Government in his capacity as the Principal Accountable Officer for the Scottish Administration. The memoranda are as follows:
Neither of the memoranda include any substantive changes to the responsibilities of Accountable Officers. The purpose of the updates is essentially to reflect the new governance structure in the core Scottish Government and to provide some clarification where possible on matters such as regularity and propriety and tendering advice to Ministers or governing bodies. However, Accountable Officers will wish to note that references to intervention by, as the case may be, the Principal Accountable Officer or Portfolio Accountable Officers in circumstances where a written authority request is being considered have been deleted.
The memoranda are published as Annexes 1 & 2 to the section on Accountability in the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM). The main section on Accountability has also been updated to reflect the new governance structure and to describe better the framework of accountability that flows from the provisions in the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000.
Long-serving Accountable Officers may have received a hard copy of a memorandum together with their original letter of designation. For the avoidance of doubt any such hard copy memorandum is superseded by the relevant memorandum published in the SPFM.
Scottish Government Finance Directorate
July 2009