# Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, Paragraph 4: Accountable officer


(1) The Parliamentary corporation is to designate the Commissioner or a member of that officer’s staff as the accountable officer for the purposes of this paragraph.
(2) The functions of the accountable officer are—
(a) those specified in sub-paragraph (3); and
(b) where the accountable officer is not the Commissioner, the duty set out in sub-paragraph (4),
and the accountable officer is answerable to the Parliament for the exercise of those functions.
(3) The functions referred to in sub-paragraph (2)(a) are—
(a) signing the accounts of the expenditure and receipts of the Commissioner;
(b) ensuring the propriety and regularity of the finances of the Commissioner; and
(c) ensuring that the resources of the Commissioner are used economically, efficiently and effectively.
(4) The duty referred to in sub-paragraph (2)(b) is a duty, where the accountable officer is required to act in some way but considers that to do so would be inconsistent with the proper performance of the functions specified in sub-paragraph (3), to—
(a) obtain written authority from the Commissioner before taking the action; and
(b) send a copy of that authority as soon as possible to the Auditor General.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2002/13/schedule/2/paragraph/4 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/freedom-of-information-scotland-act-2002/schedule-2/paragraph-4
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.