§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to whom each of the executive non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department is responsible; whether the public bodies or their members in each case are subject to(a) surcharge, (b) investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner, (c) scrutiny by the Audit Commission or National Audit Office, (d) the statutory provisions for open Government which apply to local authorities, (e) performance indicators and (f) provisions under the citizens charters; and whether the chairpersons and members of the boards of each of these bodies are required to declare an interest.
§ Mr. GoodladThe non-departmental public bodies—(NDPBs)—sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are responsible to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
The answers to points (a) to (f) are as follows:
- (a) No.
- (b) The British Council.
88 - (c) Yes, where the non-departmental public bodies has a budget.
- (d) Not applicable.
- (e) Yes. Financial management and polices of non-departmental public bodies are subject to review every five years.
- (f) All non-departmental public bodies are subject to the citizen's charter. Chairpersons and members of boards are required to declare an interest.
The Crown Agents and Commonwealth Development Corporation are public corporations of a trading nature, rather than executive non-departmental public bodies. Their classification in the publication "Public Bodies" will be corrected in the 1993 edition.