Mr. David Moloney:

Those in government are the people who can hold Secretaries General to account as things stand. It is a complicated question. As I set out in the piece we gave the committee on the Government's accountability thesis, Secretaries General are generally Accounting Officers in their own right.

As the Chairman will know, the legislation and rules about that are very specific. They are not updatable. Under the Public Service Management Act 1997, Secretaries General are given, in their own right, responsibility for the day-to-day management of Departments so that Ministers do not have to be called to account any time somebody breaks their arm in a Government building. There are ranges of responsibility that are not communal but that are held solely by the Secretaries General. As the head of the office or Department, the Secretary General has those responsibilities.

With regard to the collective responsibilities, that is really a matter for Government. It is not the only way it could be done but it is the situation as it now stands. I have not seen a clearly articulated alternative vision.