Judge Advocate-General (Hansard, 12 February 2002)

§ Mr. George Howarth
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what official foreign visits the Judge Advocate-General has made since his appointment; and what was the purpose of such visits. [32397]

§ Ms Rosie Winterton
Records are available from 1996 and the information requested is set out in the table.
advice to Ministers and support the chief executive. He is also, in consultation as necessary, with the ministerial advisory board, responsible for advising Ministers and the Permanent Secretary on the PGO's strategic direction, plans, targets and performance. The ministerial advisory board (MAB), which meets quarterly, was set up to consider strategic issues relevant to the PGO and provide independent advice to Ministers on the strategic direction of the PGO, its governance and its performance, with particular reference to its key performance measures.

§ Mr. George Howarth
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what reporting procedures exist between the Judge Advocate-General's Office and her own. [33287]

§ Ms Rosie Winterton
There are no formal procedures in place between the office of the Judge Advocate General and the Lord Chancellor's Department.
The Office of the Judge Advocate General is a judicial appointment made by Her Majesty the Queen under Letters Patent, and the work that his office carries out is judicial and quasi-judicial advisory post trial work for the Army and Royal Air Force, and is performed by the Judge Advocate General or by judicial officers appointed by the Lord Chancellor or by the Judge Advocate for that purpose. Since the functions of the Judge Advocate General and his judicial officers are judicial or quasi judicial, reporting is not constitutionally appropriate, although the Judge Advocate General is answerable to the Lord Chancellor in the same circumstances as all other judges within his jurisdiction.
157W
The budget and accounts of the Office of the Judge Advocate General are supervised by the Lord Chancellor's Department in the usual way. Sir Hayden Phillips, the Permanent Secretary of the Lord Chancellor's Department, is the accounting officer and is responsible to the Public Accounts Committee and the National Audit Office for the propriety of public expenditure incurred by the Office of the Judge Advocate General.