Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Guardian article ‘Standards board “looks like a cabal”’, published on 7 February, which person in the Financial Reporting Council is the Accounting Officer responsible for making disbursements on behalf of the UK Endorsement Board; and whether disbursements will be suspended pending an investigation by the National Audit Office into the Board’s activities.

The UK Endorsement Board is an unincorporated association and is not subject to audit by the National Audit Office. The Board is subject to Financial Reporting Council (FRC) oversight in respect of its governance and due process. In setting its budget, the UKEB consults with the FRC and follows the FRC’s budgeting processes. The FRC is subject to audits from the National Audit Office.

The FRC’s Chief Executive and Accounting Officer is the UK Endorsement Board’s Accounting Officer.