Appendix F
Letter from the Clerk of the Journals to the Clerk
of the Committee
Thank you for your letter, and for including the
Journal Office in your consultation on the proposed Order.
My primary concern must be the extent, if any, to
which the enactment of the Order would significantly limit the
ability of the House to examine the accounts of the NHS charitable
trusts, and of the NHS.
Although the enactment of the proposed Order would
marginally reduce the total information spontaneously made available
to the House, there is no record of the House considering any
of these accounts in modern times.
The proposal retains the powers of the Comptroller
& Auditor General to inspect individual accounts and to report
thereon, or on a series of accounts, to the House if he so decides.
Moreover, the auditing of individual NHS charitable trust accounts
will remain within the public sector, and therefore ultimately
subject to scrutiny by Parliament.
In these circumstances I do not believe that the
proposal will result in any significant loss of necessary protection
in respect of Parliament's scrutiny of NHS accounts.
28 January 2004
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