MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Annual Report and Accounts 1998-99
NOTES TO
THE ACCOUNTS
29. Notes to Statement 5.
Administration expenditure has been attributed
to programmes in accordance with the Ministry's normal management
accounting practices and thus the attribution to objectives is
the aggregation of the programmes that form the objective. Descriptions
of the Aims/Objectives are as follows: [not shown here: see
pp. 66-7].
LIST OF PUBLIC BODIES OUTSIDE
THE DEPARTMENTAL BOUNDARY FOR WHICH THE DEPARTMENT HAD LEAD POLICY
RESPONSIBILITY
Public Corporations
Covent Garden Market Authority
Executive NDPBs
Agricultural Wages Board for England and Wales
Agricultural Wages Committees (England)
Apple and Pear Development Council
Food from Britain
Home Grown Cereals Authority
Horticulture Development Council
Horticultural Research International
International Foot and Mouth Vaccine Bank
Meat and Livestock Commission
Milk Development Council
North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission
Potato Development Council
Regional Flood Defence Committees
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Sea Fisheries Industry Authority
UK Register of Organic Food Standards
Wine Standards Board of the Vintners' Company
Advisory Bodies
Advisory Committee on Novel foods and Processes
Advisory Committee on Pesticides
Agricultural Dwelling House Advisory Committee
Committee of Investigation for Great Britain
Committee on Agricultural Valuation
Consultative Panel on Badgers and Tuberculosis
Consumers' Committee for Great Britain
Consumer Panel
Farm Animal Welfare Council
Food Advisory Committee
Hill Farming Advisory Committee
Regional Panels
Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee
Sugar Beet Research and Education Committee
Veterinary Products Committee
Tribunals
Agricultural Land Tribunal (England)
Dairy Produce Quota Tribunal
Meat Hygiene Appeals Tribunal (England and Wales)
Plant Varieties and Seeds Tribunal
STATEMENT ON SYSTEM OF INTERNAL
FINANCIAL CONTROL
As Accounting Officer, I am aware of the need
for effective internal financial control, and acknowledge my responsibility
for the system for such control operated by the Ministry. The
system can provide only reasonable and not absolute assurance
that assets are safeguarded, transactions authorised and properly
recorded and that material errors or irregularities are either
prevented or would be detected within a timely period.
The system of internal financial control is
based on a framework of regular management information, financial
regulations, administrative procedures including segregation of
duties, and various levels of delegation specified by HM Treasury.
In particular it includes
— comprehensive budgeting systems with
an annual budget;
— procedures to review and agree the
budgets;
— the preparation of regular financial
reports which indicate actual expenditure against forecasts.
The Ministry has an internal audit service,
the work of which concentrates on areas of key activities determined
by an analysis of the areas of greatest risk in accordance with
the annual internal audit plan. The internal auditors report to
the Accounting Officer on a regular basis. The Head of Internal
Audit has issued an Assurance Statement which provides his opinion
on the adequacy and effectiveness of the internal control system
and the extent to which it can be relied upon, and my review of
the effectiveness of the system on internal financial control
is thus conducted primarily through the work of internal auditors.
R J Packer
Accounting Officer
THE CERTIFICATE AND REPORT
OF THE COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
I certify that I have audited the financial
statements on pages xx to bb which have been prepared under the
Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1921. These financial statements
have been prepared under the modified historical cost accounting
convention and the accounting policies set out on page cc.
Respective responsibilities of the Ministry, the
Accounting Officer and Auditors
As described on page yy the Accounting Officer
is responsible for the preparation of the financial statements
and for ensuring the regularity of financial transactions. It
is my responsibility to form an independent opinion, based on
my audit, on those statements and on the regularity of the financial
transactions included in them, and report my opinion to you.
Basis of Opinion
I conducted my audit in accordance with the
Auditing Standards issued by the Auditing Practices Board. An
audit includes examination, on a test basis, of evidence relevant
to the amounts, disclosures and regularity of financial transactions
included in the financial statements. It also includes an assessment
of the significant estimates and judgments made by the Accounting
Officer in the preparation of the financial statements, and of
whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the Ministry's
circumstances, consistently applied and adequately disclosed.
I planned and performed my audit so as to obtain
all the information and explanations which I considered necessary
in order to provide me with sufficient evidence to give reasonable
assurance that the financial statements are free from material
misstatement, whether caused by error, or by fraud or other irregularity
and that, in all material aspects, the expenditure and income
have been applied to the purposes intended by Parliament and the
financial transactions conform to the authorities which govern
them. In forming my opinion I have also evaluated the overall
adequacy of the presentation of information in the financial statements.
Opinion
In my opinion the financial statements give
a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Ministry of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at 31 March 1999 and of the net
resource outturn, resources applied to aims and cash flows for
the year ended, and have been properly prepared in accordance
with the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1921 and with the
directions made thereunder by the Treasury.
I have no observations to make on these financial
statements.
John Bourn
Comptroller and Auditor General
National Audit Office
157-197 Buckingham Palace Road
Victoria
London SW1W 9SP
STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTING
OFFICER'S RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Under Section 5 of the Exchequer and Audit
Department Act 1921 the Treasury has directed the Ministry of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to prepare a statement of accounts
for each financial year in the form and on the basis set out in
the accounts direction in the Resource Accounting Manual. The
accounts have been prepared on an accruals basis and must give
a true and fair view of the Ministry's state of affairs at the
year end and of its income, expenditure and cash flows for the
financial year.
2. In preparing the accounts the Ministry is
required to
2.1. Observe the accounts direction issued by
the Treasury, including the relevant accounting and disclosure
requirements, and apply suitable accounting policies on a consistent
basis.
2.2. Make judgements and estimates on a reasonable
basis.
2.3. State whether applicable accounting standards
have been followed and disclose and explain any material departures
in the financial statements.
2.4. Prepare the financial statements on the
going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that
the Ministry will continue in operation.
3. The responsibilities of the Principal Accounting
Officer, including his responsibility for the propriety and regularity
of the public finances for which he is answerable and for the
keeping of proper records, are set out in the Accounting Officers'
memorandum, issued by the Treasury and published in Government
Accounting.
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