HC Deb 07 September 2004 vol 424 c942W
Mr. Bacon

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs who the Finance Director of(a) the Department, (b) the Office for Water Services and (c) the Forestry Commission is; what accountancy qualifications each Director holds; and on how many occasions there has been a qualified opinion on (i) the resource accounts and (ii) other accounts of each in the last five years. [183427]

Alun Michael

Defra was formed in June 2001. Currently the Finance Director is Andrew Burchell who took up his post in October 2001. He is a career civil servant who does not hold any CCAB recognised qualification.

Audit opinion on the Core Department's accounts for the last five years has been as follows:

Since the formation of Defra, the NAO's Opinion on published

accounts has been as follows:

Resource account Vote account
2001–02 Qualified opinion Not applicable
2002–03 No qualification Not applicable
2003–04 Audit not yet completed Not applicable

Ofwat's Finance Director is Roger Dunshea (joined Ofwat 1998) who does not hold any CCAB recognised qualifications. There have been no qualified opinions on the accounts in the last five years. The 2003–04 audit has not yet been completed.