To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the (a) name, (b) professional and academic qualifications and (c) relevant experience are of the Chief Accounting Officer of her Department. (76817)

The Accounting Officer for the Cabinet Office is the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell KCB.

Sir Gus has a first class honours degree in economics from the University of Warwick and an M. Phil in economics from Nuffield College, Oxford. These courses covered a wide range of subjects, including accountancy. He also worked as a research assistant on a project to show the impact of various methods of adjusting companies’ financial accounts to allow for the effects of inflation. He then spent four years lecturing in economics and econometrics at the University of Glasgow.

Sir Gus has served as permanent secretary to HM Treasury (2002 to 2005), Managing Director, Macroeconomic Policy and International Finance (1999 to 2002) and as Director of Macroeconomic Policy and Prospects (1998 to 1999). He has also worked as the UK’s executive director to the IMF and World Bank (1997 to 1998) and as Head of the Government Economics Service, the UK’s largest employer of professional economists (1998 to 2003). He has undertaken training throughout his career in a wide variety of subjects, including management and leadership.

Accounting Officer is a role that the permanent secretary combines with his/her personal responsibility for the overall organisation, management and staffing of the Department and for Department-wide procedures in financial and other matters. The Accounting Officer is assisted in the discharge of these duties by suitably qualified and experienced senior managers.