HM TREASURY News
Release (15/08) issued by The Government News Network on 13 February 2008
HM Treasury is
pleased to announce the launch of two new publications produced by
a number of influential government advisors on financial
management. The reports are titled Doing the Business: Embedding
Financial Management Skills in Government and Managing Performance
in the Public Sector - an external perspective.
They are available on-line at http://thegfp.treasury.gov.uk (a
limited number of free copies are available from CIPFA, 3 Robert
Street, London, EC2N 6RL Telephone 0207 543 5600).
Sir Gus O'Donnell, Cabinet Secretary and Nick Macpherson, HM
Treasury's Permanent Secretary endorse both publications and
agree that improving performance and financial management is an
important part of the current public sector reform and vital in
enhancing the delivery of cost-effective public services.
Commenting on the publication, Dame Mary Keegan, Head of
Government Finance Profession, said: "We believe that the
advice in these reports may be of considerable assistance to
departments and their delivery bodies throughout the wider public sector".
She added:
"We are grateful to the members of the many professional
advisory firms and bodies who gave their time to work with us and
that the publications complement the recent Whitehall Capability
Reviews and existing external assessments made of local
government, health and police".
NOTES FOR THE EDITOR
1. In June 2006, HM Treasury hosted a conference for Financial
Management Advisors to Government. Approximately 40 organisations
were represented. The aim of the event was to explain the central
elements of HM Treasury's financial management change agenda,
and for us to listen to the reactions and advice of those who are
currently working with public sector bodies. The firms where keen
to assist with our work and volunteered to establish four Advisory
Panels which have been exchanging views over the last year or so.
Representatives from the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury, the
National School of Government and other departments have also been
involved in the discussions. A follow-up conference in the summer
of 2007 reinforced the key messages and the advisors expressed
themselves keen to see some formal output from their work. The
Four Panel Chairs were:
2. STEVE FREER
Steve Freer was appointed as CIPFA's Chief Executive in
February 2000, following a successful career spanning the public
and private sectors. He has held senior finance positions with
three large local authorities - Birmingham City Council,
Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire County Councils - and has also
worked as a successful management consultant with Coopers &
Lybrand (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers).
Steve also holds a number of non-executive positions. He is a
member of the Boards of the Centre for Public Scrutiny and the
Local Government Leadership Centre. He is also non-executive
member of the Board and chair of the Audit Committee of the
National Audit Office. He has recently been appointed as a
technical adviser at the Board of the International Federation of Accountants.
3. NICK JACKSON
Nick Jackson is Head of Local Government Consulting at Capgemini.
He Chaired the Performance Management panel. Nick has worked
extensively within the public sector primarily on financial and
performance management.
He was an adviser to the OGC's Efficiency Programme
responsible for overseeing implementation of the Gershon Review.
Nick is a former Government Accountant and has worked with a
number of departments supporting implementation of resource
accounting. His areas of expertise include strategy development,
performance management and improvement, and implementing finance
and budgetary systems.
4. NIGEL JOHNSON
Nigel Johnson is the lead public sector audit partner with
Deloitte. He Chaired the Corporate Structures Advisory Panel. He
has over 20 years public sector audit and advisory experience and
over 30 years corporate audit experience. His clients include
organisations in local and central government bodies and in the
NHS. His expertise includes assessing internal control, financial
and performance management arrangements as well as value for
money. He advises on risk and governance issues and he has
extensive experience of reporting to and advising Audit Committees
in both public and private sectors. Nigel's wide experience
is recognised through his membership of various technical and
professional groups considering public sector developments in
financial reporting, corporate governance and risk management.
These include the ICAEW's public sector audit sub-committee
and the Auditing Practices Board's public sector committee.
5. CHARLES B TILLEY
Charles joined CIMA as its Chief Executive in 2001. He chaired
the Best Practice Panel. A former KPMG partner and Finance
Director of the Hambros Banking Group, Charles has overall
responsibility for developing and implementing CIMA's
strategy, and leads its Management Team. He is regularly involved
in the issues affecting the global accounting profession, and
takes an active role in CIMA's Thought Leadership programme.
Other recent projects included collaborations with
PricewaterhouseCoopers, Radley Yeldar and Tomkins plc, on a
corporate reporting initiative entitled Report Leadership.
He is a Non-Executive Director of Great Ormond Street Hospital,
and recently retired from the Board of the International
Federation of Accountants. He is also a regular commentator on a
range of corporate governance issues, international standards,
narrative reporting and financial management issues.
6. Non-media enquiries should be addressed to the Treasury
Correspondence and Enquiry Unit on 020 7270 4558, or by e-mail to public.enquiries@hm-treasury.gov.uk
7. This press release and other Treasury publications and
information are available on the Treasury website at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk.
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