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Accounting Officer system statement

The role of the accounting officer in the NHS, public health and adult social care after April 2013.

• From: Department of Health and Social Care
• Published: 23 January 2012

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

The Permanent Secretary and Principal Accounting Officer at the Department of Health (DH) is accountable to Parliament for the proper use of the resources allocated to the Department.

The Accounting Officer has responsibilities for:

• ensuring that all the expenditure of DH, its arm’s-length bodies and the NHS (including NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts) is contained within the overall budget
• assuring that individual organisations within the system are performing their functions and duties effectively and have the necessary governance and controls to ensure regularity, propriety and value for money; and
• ensuring that Ministers are appropriately advised on all matters of financial propriety and regularity, and value for money, across the systems for which the Department is responsible for.

This Accounting Officer system statement provides further information on the role of the accounting officer in relation to the NHS, public health and adult social care and arrangements after April 2013.
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Published 23 January 2012