I propose to take Questions Nos. 305 and 308 together.
The Minister for Health and Children is responsible for health policy and will continue to be accountable to the Oireachtas in that regard. The Health Service Executive, as the national body with statutory responsibility under the Health Act 2004 for the management and delivery of health and personal social services, will be involved in informing the making of policy by the Minister.
The Health Act 2004, which provided for the establishment of the Health Service Executive on a statutory basis, contains a number of provisions to ensure that the executive is accountable to the Oireachtas. Under the Act, the Minister for Health and Children is required to lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas the executive's corporate plan and service plan once he or she has approved it. The executive's audited financial statements, together with the Comptroller and Auditor General's report and its annual report, must also be laid before the Houses.
Under the Act, the chief executive officer is appointed the accounting officer for the executive. This provision required the establishment of a separate Vote for the executive for the purposes of the Comptroller and Auditor General Acts 1866 to 1998. This means that the CEO is accountable to the Committee of Public Accounts through the Comptroller and Auditor General for the appropriation accounts of the executive. The executive is also obliged to prepare a set of income and expenditure accounts for which it is accountable to the Dáil through the Committee of Public Accounts. As accounting officer, the CEO will be required to attend before the Committee of Public Accounts.
The Act also requires that the CEO attend before an Oireachtas committee to give an account of the general administration of the executive if requested to do so. Provision is also made in the legislation for the attendance of the chairperson or other employees to attend before the Oireachtas committees if requested to do so by the chairperson of the committee.
There is also a provision in the Act for the making of regulations regarding the executive's dealings with Oireachtas members, including addressing the issue of supplying specific documents or information to Members of the Oireachtas and dealing with correspondence from Oireachtas Members. My Department is currently preparing the regulations required to give effect to that provision and I hope to have them in place shortly.