§ Mr. McGradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland following the report prepared by Gray and Heenan of the University of Ulster in relation to the system of public appointments in Northern Ireland, what action he will take to make the system more open, accessible and accountable; and if he will make a statement. [25943]
§ Sir John WheelerThe system of appointments to public bodies in Northern Ireland is already open and accessible in that any member of the public can apply to have his or her name included on the central database which is maintained to assist Departments identify suitable people for appointments. The Government plan to make publicly available in the near future their guidelines to the Northern Ireland Office and Northern Ireland Departments on public appointments procedures.
Public bodies are accountable to Ministers, who in turn are answerable to Parliament for the degree of independence, the usefulness, effectiveness and efficiency of non-departmental public bodies. With regard to financial accountability of public bodies, the Government are accountable to the Public Accounts Committee for their expenditure on these bodies, and they for their part are required to submit to proper audit.