50.This section provides the Treasury with the necessary powers to obtain the information to prepare WGA. It allows the Treasury to designate which public sector bodies will be covered, provides the Treasury with a power to request the audited information necessary to enable it to prepare the account, makes special provision for the devolved administrations and allows sub-consolidations to be carried out.
51.Subsections (1) and (10) provide for the Treasury to designate, subject to Parliamentary approval, those public sector bodies which are to be included in the WGA. It is likely that the first accounts will only cover the central government sector (departments, central funds and non-departmental public bodies) but that these will be expanded to include all public sector bodies (ie NHS bodies, local authority bodies, nationalised industries and other public corporations in addition to central government bodies).
52.Subsection (2) enables the Treasury to require all designated public bodies to provide it with the audited financial information required in a specified form and within a specified timescale. In practice this information will be largely the same as the body requires to prepare its own accounts and would be audited by its existing auditors.
53.Subsections (3) and (4) gives the Treasury similar powers to require designated bodies to provide unaudited financial for a specified part of a year. This will enable the Treasury to produce interim financial statements in due course.
54.Section 5 requires the Treasury to appoint Accounting Officers who are responsible for the preparation of resource accounts and their transmission to the C&AG for audit. Subsection (5)will allow the Treasury to appoint individuals who would have similar responsibilities in respect of WGA consolidation returns.
55.Subsections (6) and (7) put in place special provision for the devolved administrations. In the case of Scotland the Scottish Executive, using similar powers under the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000, will carry out the necessary consolidation and transmit the information to the Treasury for inclusion in the overall WGA. In the case of the National Assembly for Wales subsection (7) requires the Treasury to consult with the Assembly before designating bodies that come under the Assembly’s jurisdiction or making an appointment under subsection (5).
56.Subsections (8) and (9) provide for sub-consolidations to be carried out by bodies other than the Treasury and for the auditors of such sub-consolidations to have equivalent powers to those given to the C&AG under clause 11(5). Examples of the type of sub-consolidation envisaged are the Department of Health preparing a consolidation of the accounts of all National Health Service bodies and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions preparing a consolidation of all local authority accounts. In relation to Wales and sub-consolidation by the National Assembly for Wales, see paragraph 136.
Commentary on Sections Section 10: Whole of Government Accounts – obtaining information