20(1)The Service shall—E+W
(a)keep proper accounts and proper records in relation to the accounts, and
(b)prepare, in respect of each financial year, a statement of accounts giving a true and fair view of the state of affairs and the income and expenditure of the Service.
(2)The statement of accounts shall comply with any requirement which the Secretary of State has, with the approval of the Treasury, notified to the Service.
(3)The Service shall send each statement of accounts of the Service to the Secretary of State and to the Comptroller and Auditor General within such period after the end of the financial year to which it relates as the Secretary of State may specify by notice given to the Service.
(4)The Comptroller and Auditor General shall—
(a)examine, certify and report on each statement of accounts received by him under sub-paragraph (3), and
(b)lay a copy of each such statement of accounts, and of his report on it, before each House of Parliament.
(5)For the purpose of exercising his examination function in relation to a statement of accounts, the Comptroller and Auditor General—
(a)shall have a right of access at all reasonable times to any documents which he reasonably requires for that purpose and which are in the custody or under the control of the Service;
(b)shall have a right to require from any person holding or accountable for any of those documents any assistance, information or explanation which he reasonably thinks necessary for that purpose.
(6)The right of access to documents conferred by sub-paragraph (5)(a) includes a right to take copies of or make extracts from documents.
(7)A reference in sub-paragraphs (5) and (6) to documents includes a reference to information recorded in any form; and in the case of information recorded otherwise than in a legible form the right of access conferred by sub-paragraph (5)(a) includes a right of access to, and to take copies of, that information in a legible form.
Commencement Information
I1Sch. 4 para. 20 in force at 1.4.2004 by S.I. 2003/2938, art. 6(a) (with art. 8, Sch.)