Written question asked by Philip Hollobone (Conservative) on Wednesday, 18 March 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 23 March 2009. It was answered by Alan Williams (Labour) on Wednesday, 25 March 2009 on behalf of the Public Accounts Commission.

National Audit Office: Pay

Question: To ask the Chairman of the Public Accounts Commission for what reasons the Commission agreed at its meeting of 16 December 2008 that the Comptroller and Auditor General's pay should be linked to that of the Lord Chief Justice.

Answer: While discussing the Government's draft clauses on the NAO's corporate governance, the Commission considered two options for the C&AG's pay: linking to the range of salaries received by Permanent Secretaries and linking to the judicial pay scale. Since the salaries of Permanent Secretaries include a performance bonus, and the draft legislation specifies that the C&AG's salary should not have a performance element, the Commission preferred a link to the judicial pay scale.The current C&AG is paid on the judicial pay scale and this arrangement provides transparency. Although the Commission does not set the C&AG's pay, and would not do so under the terms of the draft legislation, it discussed what the level of that pay should be under the new corporate governance arrangements, and the consensus view within the Commission was that the C&AG ought to be paid the same as the Lord Chief Justice in order to reflect the responsibilities of the post.

Secondary information