(1)The Auditor General must grant approvals to draw payments out of the Welsh Consolidated Fund from time to time at the request of the Welsh Ministers.
(2)An approval to draw may only be granted if, in the Auditor General's opinion, the proposed payment out of the Welsh Consolidated Fund would comply with section 124.
(3)A request for the grant of an approval to draw is to be made in any manner which the Welsh Ministers, with the approval of the Auditor General, decide to adopt.
(4)Where an approval to draw is granted the Paymaster General must make the funds available to the Welsh Ministers, the First Minister, the Counsel General, the Assembly Commission, the Auditor General or the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (as appropriate).
(5)The Paymaster General must make available to—
(a)the Auditor General, and
(b)the principal accounting officer for the Welsh Ministers,
a daily statement regarding all the issues made out of the Welsh Consolidated Fund in respect of sums charged on that Fund and other payments out of it.
(6)For the purposes of this Act the principal accounting officer for the Welsh Ministers is the Permanent Secretary to the Welsh Assembly Government.
(7)But the Treasury may designate another member of the staff of the Welsh Assembly Government to be the principal accounting officer for the Welsh Ministers if and for so long as—
(a)the Permanent Secretary to the Welsh Assembly Government is incapable of discharging the responsibilities of principal accounting officer for the Welsh Ministers, or
(b)the office of Permanent Secretary to the Welsh Assembly Government is vacant.
(8)In this section “Permanent Secretary to the Welsh Assembly Government” means the person appointed in accordance with section 52 to be the head of the staff of the Welsh Assembly Government (whether or not that person is known by the title of Permanent Secretary to the Welsh Assembly Government).