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Part 1S[F1THE COMMISSIONER FOR ETHICAL STANDARDS IN PUBLIC LIFE IN SCOTLAND]

FinanceS

19Accountable officerS

(1)The Parliamentary corporation must designate [F2the Commissioner] or a member of the [F3Commissioner’s] staff as the accountable officer for the purposes of this section.

(2)The functions of the accountable officer are—

(a)signing the accounts of the expenditure and receipts of the [F4Commissioner],

(b)ensuring the propriety and regularity of the finances of the [F4Commissioner],

(c)ensuring that the resources of the [F4Commissioner] are used economically, efficiently and effectively, and

(d)the duty in subsection (3).

(3)Where the accountable officer[F5is not the Commissioner and] is required to act in some way but considers that to do so would be inconsistent with the proper performance of a function set out in subsection (2)(a) to (c), the accountable officer must—

(a)obtain written authority from the [F6Commissioner] before taking the action, and

(b)as soon as possible, send a copy of the authority to the Auditor General for Scotland.

(4)The accountable officer is answerable to the Parliament for the performance of the functions in subsection (2).

20BudgetS

(1)The [F7Commissioner] must, before the start of each financial year, prepare proposals for [F8the Commissioner’s] use of resources and expenditure during the year (a “budget”) and, by such date as the Parliamentary corporation determines, send the budget to the Parliamentary corporation for approval.

(2)The [F9Commissioner] may, in the course of a financial year, prepare a revised budget for the remainder of the year and send it to the Parliamentary corporation for approval.

(3)In preparing a budget or a revised budget, the [F10Commissioner] must ensure that the resources of the [F10Commissioner] will be used economically, efficiently and effectively.

(4)A budget or revised budget must contain a statement that the [F11Commissioner] has complied with the duty under subsection (3).

21FundingS

(1)The Parliamentary corporation is to—

(a)pay the remuneration and allowances of [F12the] Commissioner,

(b)pay any expenses properly incurred by the [F13Commissioner] in the performance of [F14the Commissioner’s] functions, so far as not met out of sums received and applied by [F15the Commissioner] under section 12(5),

(c)indemnify the F16... Commissioner in respect of any liabilities incurred by [F17the] Commissioner in the performance of [F18the] Commissioner's functions.

(2)Subsection (1)(b) does not require the Parliamentary corporation to pay any expenses incurred by the [F19Commissioner] which exceed or are otherwise not covered by a budget or, as the case may be, a revised budget approved under section 20.

(3)However, the Parliamentary corporation may pay those expenses.

Textual Amendments

22Accounts and auditS

(1)The [F20Commissioner] must, in accordance with any directions in that regard given by the Scottish Ministers—

(a)keep proper accounts and accounting records,

(b)prepare annual accounts in respect of each financial year, and

(c)send a copy of the annual accounts to the Auditor General for Scotland for auditing.

(2)If requested by any person, the [F20Commissioner] must make the audited accounts available, at any reasonable time, without charge and in printed or electronic form, so that they may be inspected by that person.