§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many times in the last 10 years, and on which dates, his departmental accounting officer has issued a minute in that role; and what was the issue in each case. [22561]
§ Mr. RedwoodWhere a Minister overrules an accounting officer's advice on an issue of propriety or regularity of expenditure or one of value for money, the accounting officer should request a written instruction from the Minister to take the action in question.
Details of the two cases where such an instruction was given to my Department's accounting officer were set out in my reply of 23 March 1994 to the hon. Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (Mr. Rowlands) Official Report, column 317. There have been no subsequent cases.
All such instructions are now reported to the Comptroller and Auditor General, who after making whatever investigations he considers appropriate will report his findings to the Public Accounts Committee.