The Auditor General for Scotland (AGS) is the public official in charge of the

Audit Scotland Audit Scotland is an independent public body responsible for auditing most of Scotland's public organisations. These include the Scottish Government, local councils and NHS Scotland. Auditing role It audits over 220 organisations, including: ...

, the body responsible for auditing most of Scotland's public bodies, except

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

. The Auditor General oversees the scrutiny of how public money is spent by the

directorates of the Scottish Government The work of the Scottish Government is carried out by Directorates, each headed by a Director. The Directorates are grouped into a number of Directorates-General families, each headed by a Director-General. However, the individual Directorates ar ...

government agencies A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administratio ...

NHS Scotland NHS Scotland, sometimes styled NHSScotland, is the publicly funded healthcare system in Scotland and one of the four systems that make up the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. It operates 14 territorial NHS boards across Scotland, ...

further education colleges Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. It ...

and most Non Departmental Public Bodies. The current Auditor General is Stephen Boyle.

History and responsibilities

The Auditor General is a statutory appointment made by His Majesty The King, on the recommendation of the Scottish Parliament. The post was created under section 69 of the

Scotland Act 1998 The Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which legislated for the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament with tax varying powers and the Scottish Government (then Scottish Executive). It was o ...

. The main functions of the AGS are set out under section 70 of the Scotland Act and further provided for under the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000. The

Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament. This legislation merged the eight separate police forces and fire and rescue services in Scotland, plus several central agencies, into single agencies covering t ...

legislated for mergers of some emergency service bodies, and also for the Auditor General to become responsible for auditing the

Scottish Police Authority The Scottish Police Authority (SPA), ( gd, Ùghdarras Poilis na h-Alba), is a public body of the Scottish Government which holds Police Scotland, the national police service, to account. Both bodies were established on 1 April 2013 following a ...

, and the

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS; gd, Seirbheis Smàlaidh agus Teasairginn na h-Alba) is the national fire and rescue service of Scotland. It was formed by the merger of eight regional fire services in the country on 1 April 2013. ...

List of Auditors General

* Robert Black (February 2000 to July 2012) *

Caroline Gardner Caroline Jane Gardner was the Auditor General for Scotland between June 2012 and July 2020. She is a former president of Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) 2006−7. Career Gardiner is originally from London. She s ...

(July 2012 to July 2020) * Stephen Boyle (July 2020 for 8-year term)

References

External links

* Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Government audit officials Auditing in the United Kingdom {{Scotland-stub

History and responsibilities

List of Auditors General

See also

References

External links