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Not anonymous: ministerial responsibility and the British accounting officers
- Source :
- Canadian Public Administration. Winter, 1997, Vol. 40 Issue 4, p626, 27 p.
- Publication Year :
- 1997
-
Abstract
- The doctrine of ministerial responsibility has three components: the collective responsibility of the cabinet; the individual responsibility of ministers; and the anonymity of the public servants. This paper examines one important exception to the doctrine of anonymity, the British accounting officers. These officers, normally the permanent secretaries (equivalent to deputy ministers), are responsible for the financial administration of departments and are held accountable for this by the Public Accounts Committee. A similar practice was proposed for Canada by the Lambert Commission but was rejected by the government, especially by the Privy Council Office. This paper argues that the PCO did not adequately represent the structure or importance of the British practice of assigning direct responsibility to accounting officers and in so doing has foreclosed serious consideration of an important area of reform to the machinery of government: identification of areas of government where public servants rather than ministers should hold responsibility and accountability. As a result, Canada has lagged behind other parliamentary democracies in moving into this important area of reform. At the same time, the theory that ministers should be responsible for administration has not led to effective accountability to Parliament in Canada. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
Details
- ISSN :
- 00084840
- Volume :
- 40
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Gale General OneFile
- Journal :
- Canadian Public Administration
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsgcl.20866006