Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
Exchequer and Audit Departments Act, 1866
(29 & 30 Vict.) C A P. XXXIX.
An Act to consolidate the Duties of the Exchequer and Audit Departments, to regulate the Receipt, Custody, and Issue of Public Moneys, and to provide for the Audit of the Accounts thereof.
[28th June 1866]
W HEREAS it is expedient to consolidate the Powers and Duties of the Comptroller of Her Majesty's Exchequer and of the Commissioners for auditing the Public Accounts, and to unite in One Department the Business hitherto conducted by the separate Establishments under them; and to make other Provisions for the more complete Examination of the Public Accounts of the United Kingdom: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows:
1 Short Title.
1. This Act may be cited for all Purposes as ‘TheExchequer and Audit Departments Act, 1866.’
2 Definition of Terms.
2. In this Act ‘the Treasury’ shall mean the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury for the Time being, or any Two or more of them; ‘the Bank ofEngland’ shall mean the Governor and Company of the Bank of England ; ‘the Bank of Ireland’ shall mean the Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland ; ‘the National Debt Commissioners’ shall mean the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt; ‘Principal Accountants’ shall mean those who receive Issues directly from the Accounts of Her Majesty's Exchequer at the Banks of England and Ireland respectively; ‘Sub-Accountants’ shall mean those who receive Advances, by way of Imprest, from Principal Accountants, or who receive Fees or other Public Moneys through other Channels; ‘the Secretaries of the Treasury’ shall include the Assistant Secretary.
3 Power to Her Majesty to appoint ‘Comptroller and Auditor General’ and ‘Assistant Comptroller and Auditor,’ who shall not hold any other Offices during Pleasure, nor be Members or Peers of Parliament.
3. At any Time within Twelve Months after the passing of this Act it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom to nominate and appoint the Person who shall at that Time hold the Office of Comptroller General of the Receipt and Issue of Her Majesty's Exchequer, and Chairman of the Commissioners for auditing the Public Accounts, to be Comptroller General of the Receipt and Issue of Her Majesty's Exchequer and Auditor General of Public Accounts, in this Act referred to as ‘Comptroller and Auditor General,’ and also to nominate and appoint One of the Persons who shall at that Time hold the Offices of Commissioners for auditing the Public Accounts to be ‘Assistant Comptroller and Auditor.’
The said Comptroller and Auditor General and Assistant Comptroller and Auditor shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, subject, however, to their Removal therefrom by Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, on an Address from the Two Houses of Parliament; and they shall not be capable of holding their Offices together with any other Office to be held during Pleasure under the Crown, or under any Officer appointed by the Crown; nor shall they be capable while holding their Offices of being elected or of sitting as Members of the House of Commons; nor shall any Peer of Parliament be capable of holding either of the said Offices.
4 Power to Her Majesty to grant Salaries as herein named, and also Pensions.
4. Her Majesty may, by such Letters Patent, grant to the Persons therein named the following Salaries; that is to say,
To the Comptroller and Auditor General a Salary of Two thousand Poundsper Annum , and to the Assistant Comptroller and Auditor a Salary of One thousand five hundred Pounds per Annum ; and such Salaries shall be charged upon and paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom or the growing Produce thereof.
It shall be lawful for Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, by Letters Patent as aforesaid, to grant to any Person who shall have executed the Offices of Comptroller and Auditor General, or Assistant Comptroller and Auditor, on his ceasing to hold such Office, an Annuity or Pension not exceeding One Half of the Salary of his Office to which he shall have been entitled immediately before he ceased to hold such Office, if he shall have held either, or one after the other, of the said Offices or the Office of Commissioner of Audit for a Period not less than Fifteen Years, and Two Thirds of his said Salary if he shall have held either, or one after the other, of the said Offices for a Period not less than Twenty Years: Provided always, that no such Annuity or Pension shall be granted to either of the said Officers unless he be sixty Years of Age at the least, or be afflicted with some permanent Infirmity disabling him from the due Execution of his Office, the same to be distinctly recited in such Grant: Provided also, that nothing herein contained shall prevent either of the said Officers from receiving, in lieu of such Annuity or Pension, if he shall so elect, the Amount of Superannuation Allowance to which he would have been entitled in respect of the full Period during which he shall have served in the permanent Civil Service of the state, under the Provisions of ‘The Superannuation Act, 1859.’
5 Present Offices of Comptroller General of the Exchequer and Commissioners of Audit to be abolished.
5. On the Appointment as aforesaid of a Comptroller and Auditor General and an Assistant Comptroller and Auditor, the then existing Letters Patent of Appointments of Comptroller General of the Exchequer and of Commissioners of Audit shall beipso facto revoked, and the present Offices of Comptroller General of the Exchequer and Commissioners of Audit shall be abolished, but the Person appointed to be Comptroller and Auditor General shall have and perform all the Powers and Duties conferred or imposed on the Comptroller General of the Exchequer and the Commissioners for auditing the Public Accounts respectively by any Enactments relative to those Authorities respectively as far as the same are not repealed or altered by this Act or any other Act of the present Session of Parliament; and it shall be lawful for the Treasury to grant to eachof the said Commissioners of Audit whose Offices shall be abolished under the Provisions of this Act, and who shall not be appointed to either of the said Offices of Comptroller and Auditor General or Assistant Comptroller and Auditor, an annual Allowance, by way of Compensation, not exceeding the Sum charged on the Consolidated Fund as the Salary of such Commissioners: Provided always, that any Commissioners who may be in receipt of Emoluments exceeding the Salary so charged on the Consolidated Fund shall be entitled to receive, in addition to the aforesaid Compensation Allowance, such Proportion of the said Emoluments as the Treasury are empowered to grant under the Provisions of ‘The Superannuation Act, 1859;’ and such Allowances shall be charged upon and paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom or the growing Produce thereof.
6 On Vacancy in Office of Comptroller and Auditor General, &c., Successor to be appointed.
6. On the Death, Resignation, or other Vacancy in the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, or of the Assistant Comptroller and Auditor, Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, may, by Letters Patent as aforesaid, nominate and appoint a Successor, who shall have the same Powers, Authorities, and Duties, and who shall be paid the like Salary and the like Annuity or Pension out of the Consolidated Fund.
7 Assistant Comptroller and Auditor may act in Absence of Comptroller and Auditor General.
7. Anything which under the Authority of this Act is directed to be done by the Comptroller and Auditor General may, in his Absence, be done by the Assistant Comptroller and Auditor, except the certifying and reporting on Accounts for the House of Commons.
8 Treasury to appoint Officers, Clerks, &c., and to regulate Numbers and Salaries.
8. The Treasury shall from Time to Time appoint the Officers, Clerks, and other Persons in the Department of the Comptroller and Auditor General, and Her Majesty by Order in Council may from Time to Time regulate the Numbers and Salaries of the respective Grades or Classes into which the said Officers, Clerks, and others shall be divided.
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