Brennan Report - Department of Health and Children

Report of the Commission on Financial Management and Control Systems in the Health Service●●Measuring the outputs associated with programme activity, examining scope foralternative approaches; andDefining performance indicators.This process would have benefits for both the Department of Health and Children’s policyfunction, in terms of improved policy information/input, and the Executive, in terms of ensuringcontinuing value for money in expenditure by facilitating a regular cycle of in-depth programmereviews to complement their more routine, ongoing evaluation role.Recommendation on Health Policy ReviewsR9.6 The Secretary General of the Department of Health and Children should proactively promote the expenditurereview process on a continuous and systematic basis within his Department by:(i) Setting up and chairing a steering group to oversee reviews; and(ii) Through the forum of the steering group, and consistent with Government requirements in this regard,identify and propose on a continuing basis those areas of expenditure that would benefit most from9.4 ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND ANNUAL REPORTSWe noted in Chapter 2 that health boards have to prepare statutory financial accounts thatcomply with the accounting standards laid down by the Minister for Health and Children for thepurposes of audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General. The format and content of theseaccounts are very significantly different to the monthly Integrated Management Reports andService Plans prepared by the health boards and it is not possible to make a link betweenthem.The Annual Financial Statement need to be transformed into a document which reflects thegovernance arrangements in health boards and become more relevant to the services that arebeing delivered.A tripartite approach involving the health boards, the Department of Health andChildren and the Comptroller and Auditor General should advance this by working on linkingthe Financial Statements with the Annual Report and integrating non-financial data with theAnnual Financial Statements.Recommendation on the Annual Financial StatementR9.7 The Annual Financial Statement prepared by the health boards should be tied in more clearly and in a morerelevant manner to the services that are being delivered. In this regard, the CEO should prepare areconciliation document that makes it clear how the figures in the final (i.e. December’s) Integrated ManagementReport of the financial year have appeared in the Annual Financial Statement and Annual Report.At present health boards must, no later than 30 June in each year, prepare and adopt anAnnual Report in relation to the performance of its functions during the preceding year. Thisreport must include a statement on the services provided by the board in the preceding yearand any other particulars (including financial statements) that the board considers appropriateor that the Minister specifies (see Appendix 4). However, Annual Financial Statements must beadopted by each health board and submitted to the Comptroller and Auditor General by114