Source · Select Committees · Treasury Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Accepted
Paragraph: 43
The Government as a whole is spending a large amount of money and time on...
Conclusion
The Government as a whole is spending a large amount of money and time on devising growth strategies and policies. It is important to have a robust, overarching strategy for this that drives co-ordination across departments. This function may well sit best in the Treasury. However, it is unclear to what extent the Plan for Growth is an active strategy driving the Treasury’s activities as the co-ordinating economics ministry. As a result, there is a risk that growth strategy and policy are fragmenting across departments.
Government Response Summary
The government states that the Plan for Growth is an overarching framework which helps to support a whole-Government approach to delivering long-term growth, and outlines processes already in place.
Paragraph Reference:
43
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Plan for Growth, while led by HM Treasury, is an overarching framework which helps to support a whole-Government approach to delivering long-term growth. The Plan for Growth is supported by a family of strategies, such as the ‘National Infrastructure Strategy’, ‘Skills for Jobs’ and the ‘Innovation Strategy’, each led by respective lead government departments. Outcome Delivery Plans (ODP) are the primary way in which departments’ progress against their core policy objectives and outcomes is measured, including where they are responsible for delivering elements of the Plan for Growth. There are measures across each strategic objective outlined in the Plan for Growth, including boosting connectivity, unleashing innovation and closing the regional attainment gap. Departments are required to report their progress to Cabinet Office and HM Treasury on a quarterly basis. These outcome focused metrics are discussed by departments and their corresponding HM Treasury spending teams and factor into discussions on funding settlement decisions. In addition, projects which are part of the Government Major Projects Portfolio–due to their value, significance, or novel nature–are subject to a regular monitoring regime involving the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, Cabinet Office and HM Treasury. This follows and supplements the usual HM Treasury process for scrutinising proposals, including the Treasury Approval Panels and spending control processes.