1957, Naa 1983 s. 1). The Comptroller is an Officer of the Commons

and has security of tenure similar to that of a High Court Judge (see

Exchequer and Audit Dept Act 1866). The Comptroller is supported

by the National Audit Office (NAO) which is responsible for scruti-

nising the accounts of central government departments and also those

of some outside bodies dependent on government money, such as

universities. The NAO carries out two kinds of audit. ‘Certification

Audit’ is based on financial accounting practice. ‘Value for Money

Audit’ is based on the wider concerns of the ‘economy, efficiency and

effectiveness’ of government expenditure (National Audit Act 1983

s. 6). This is not meant to include the substantive merits of govern-

ment policy, although the line between them may be difficult to draw.

The NAO is also concerned with matters of ‘regularity, legality,

propriety and probity’. Again it may not be clear how far accounting

officers and the NAO should go into questions of legality (see Hardin

et al., 1996).

The Comptroller reports to the Public Accounts Committee of the

House of Commons. This committee carries out an annual scrutiny of

government accounts and its report is debated by the Commons. It thus

provides a key mechanism for the control of government finance and

for government accountability in general. The Comptroller and Audi-

tor General are not directly concerned with the merits of government

279

Parliamentary Procedure

policy but only with the efficient and economical use of money

(National Audit Act 1983 ss. 6 and 7).

12.5 Supervision of the Executive

This depends upon the doctrine of ministerial responsibility and relies

in the last resort upon the convention that the House of Commons can

require the government to resign. In modern times the role of Parlia-

ment has been weakened by the party system and the difficulty of

obtaining information from the government. It should also be remem-

bered that not all government activity requires formal parliament-

ary authority. This includes royal prerogative powers, including the

making of treaties and other matters concerning foreign affairs,

commercial and property transactions carried out under private law

powers, national security and the use of the armed forces where addi-

tional expenditure is not involved. Parliamentary scrutiny is also

limited by the practice of conferring decision-making power to semi-

Independent bodies outside the central government.

The main procedures for scrutiny of the executive are as follows:

Questions (SO 50)

About 45 minutes each day are allowed for questions to ministers. Any

MP can put down a question. The prime minister has two 30-minute

question sessions each week. Three ministers are available per day but

members must ballot for the privilege of asking an oral question.

Except in the case of prime minister’s questions, advance notice must

be given but a member may ask one unscheduled supplementary

question. Civil servants who brief ministers are skilled in anticipating

possible supplementaries. A supplementary need only bear a tenuous

relationship to the main question. For example: Q. ‘What are the

prime minister’s engagements for the day?’. S. ‘Why is he not visiting