HC Deb 24 June 1982 vol 26 cc148-9W
Mr. Rhodes James

asked the Minister for the Civil Service what effort the Government are making better to use staff with accountancy skills in the Civil Service.

Mr. Hayhoe

Accountants in the Civil Service have a vital part to play in the Government's drive to improve financial and resource management in Departments. The Government are determined to make the fullest possible use of the accountancy skills that exist already in the service and to add to them as much and as quickly as we can. From 1 July 1982 a new accountancy functional specialism within the administration group is being introduced. Accountants in the present professional accountant class will join with colleagues already in the administration group to form part of an expanded Government Accountancy Service which will also include staff with a high degree of accountancy expertise and experience.

This removes the artificial barriers which have largely confined the professional accountant to the provision of technical advice.

For the future, Civil Service accountants, like those elsewhere, will be free to move outside their professional sphere into general administrative roles. There will be long-term career development plans to equip the best accountants for senior posts.

Under the new arrangements an expanded Government Accountancy Service management unit will provide a focal point for the management of accountants and accountancy training and will help Departments in managing their staff in the GAS, including those under training.

Over the next ten years we want to double the number of professionally qualified accountants in the service to fill primarily those posts—some 60 per cent.—in the functional specialism which will normally be filled by professionally qualified staff. Part of this will be achieved by training people already in the service; part by continued recruitment of qualified accountants from outside. Recruitment will be necessary both to meet the expected shortage of professionally qualified staff and to provide the right blend of skills and experience, some of which can be acquired only outside Government work.

I am conscious of the concern that has been expressed in Parliament and elsewhere about the need to make better use of accountants in the Civil Service. The changes we are introducing on 1 July are designed to bring this about by broadening the career opportunities of accountants and increasing the opportunities they have to contribute to management and decision making.