To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) name, (b) professional and academic qualifications and (c) relevant experience are of the chief accounting officer of his Department. (76794)

I refer to my answer of 30 November 2005, Official Report, column 506W, which gave details of the Department’s Finance Director. The Department’s Principal Accounting Officer is Helen Ghosh, Permanent Secretary.

Accounting Officer is a role that the Permanent Secretary combines with 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, such as the Finance Director.