Public Service Management Act, 1997

Responsibility and accountability within Departments and Offices.

4.—(1) Except as otherwise directed by the Government or provided by or under any other Act, the Secretary General of a Department or Head of a Scheduled Office, as the case may be, shall, subject to the determination of matters of policy by the Minister of the Government having charge of the Department or Scheduled Office or by the Government, have the authority, responsibility and accountability for carrying out the following duties in respect of the Department or Scheduled Office:

(a) managing the Department or Scheduled Office, implementing Government policies appropriate to the Department or Scheduled Office, monitoring Government policies that affect the Department or Scheduled Office and delivering outputs as determined with the Minister of the Government having charge of the Department or Scheduled Office;

(b) at the following times, or at an earlier time if the Minister of the Government having charge of the Department or Scheduled Office so requires, preparing and submitting to the Minister of the Government a strategy statement in respect of the Department or Scheduled Office—

(i) within 6 months after the coming into operation of this Act,

(ii) within 6 months after the appointment of a new Minister of the Government having charge of the Department or Scheduled Office, and

(iii) at the expiration of the 3 year period since the last such statement was prepared and submitted,

and providing progress reports to the Minister of the Government on the implementation of the strategy statement annually or at such intervals as the Government may by order from time to time direct;

(c) preparing, with a view to giving effect to section 9 , an outline of how specific elements of the responsibilities described in paragraphs (d) to (h) are to be assigned so as to ensure that the functions performed on behalf of the Minister of the Government are performed by an appropriate officer, or an officer of an appropriate grade or rank, of the Department or Scheduled Office;

(d) providing advice to the Minister of the Government having charge of the Department or Scheduled Office with respect to any matter within, affecting or connected with, the responsibilities of the Minister or the Department or Scheduled Office giving rise to material expenditure chargeable to its appropriation account;

(e) ensuring that appropriate arrangements are put into place that will facilitate an effective response to matters that pertain to both the Department or Scheduled Office and other branches of the public service;

(f) ensuring that the resources of the Department or Scheduled Office are used in a manner that is in accordance with the Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act, 1993 , with a view to enabling the matters referred to in paragraphs (a) to (d) of section 19 (1) of that Act to be appropriately addressed by the Department or Scheduled Office;

(g) examining and developing means that will improve the provision by the Department or Scheduled Office of cost effective public services;

(h) subject to the Civil Service Regulation Act, 1956 , the Civil Service Commissioners Act, 1956 , the Defence Acts, 1954 to 1993 (in respect of civilian employees recruited or appointed under the Defence Acts, 1954 to 1993) and any other Act affecting the appointment, performance, discipline or dismissal of civil servants or civilian employees of the Department of Defence, managing all matters pertaining to appointments, performance, discipline and dismissals of staff below the grade of Principal or its equivalent in the Department or Scheduled Office; and

(i) subject to section 9 (1)(f), assigning the responsibility for performance of the functions for which the Secretary General of the Department or Head of the Scheduled Office is responsible to other officers or to a grade or grades of officer of the Department or Scheduled Office including the conditions pertaining to such assignments in order to ensure coherence of policy across the Department or Scheduled Office, and ensuring that, where appropriate, the responsibility for the performance of those functions is further assigned to other officers or to a grade or grades of officer within the Department or Scheduled Office.

(2) Nothing in subsection (1) shall be construed as preventing or limiting the Secretary General of a Department or Head of a Scheduled Office from carrying out, on behalf of the Minister of the Government having charge of the Department or Scheduled Office, any other function of the Minister of the Government.

(3) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as limiting the power of the Government to assign, by warrant or decision, to a Secretary General who is not the principal officer of the Department, functions that are to be carried out by that Secretary General in accordance with the conditions set out in the warrant or decision.

(4) The position, in relation to a Department, heretofore known as Secretary of the Department or any other person in the Department known as Secretary shall be known as Secretary General of the Department or Secretary General, as the case may be, and the position heretofore known as Secretary to the Government shall be known as Secretary General to the Government and the position, in relation to the Office of the Attorney General, heretofore known as Senior Legal Assistant of the Office of the Attorney General, shall be known as Director General of the Office of the Attorney General.