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Select committee inquiry

Excess votes 2020-21: Serious Fraud Office

Closed

Public Accounts Committee · Opened 26 January 2022 · Closed 26 April 2022

Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

What the inquiry looked at

“The Public Accounts Committee considers any instances in which a government department or body exceeds its authorised annual spending limits, thereby incurring an ‘Excess Vote’ – the procedure for Parliamentary authorisation of the additional spending. The SFO’s 2020-21 annual accounts were qualified by the NAO because it breached its annual authorised annual spending limit of £1 million by £2.55 million, due to legal costs arising from a failed prosecution, therefore incurring an Excess Vote. The Committee will hold a hearing with the Director of the Serious Fraud Office. If you have evidence on the SFO’s spending please submit it here by Wednesday 2 February 2022.”

The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.

What the government said

The government responded on 28 April 2022. The deadline was 22 April 2022.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response.

The government agrees with the Committee's recommendations that Parliament provide additional resources through Excess Votes, and agrees that the Serious Fraud Office should write to the Committee on the Altman review and its internal review, while it "notes" the conclusion on the SFO's breach.

  • On the excesses, the government agrees with the recommendation for an Excess Vote and states the recommendation is implemented. The excesses were included in the Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2022, which "received Royal Assent on 15 March 2022".
  • On the Serious Fraud Office's breach of its Resource Annually Managed Expenditure limit by £2.55 million, the government "notes the Committee's conclusion".
  • The government agrees that the SFO should write to the Committee on the Altman review. The SFO will write "within one month of receiving the Altman review", which is "currently expected to conclude in May 2022", with a target implementation date of June 2022.
  • The government agrees that the SFO should write setting out its findings from its internal review of control failures, and states this is implemented: the SFO wrote to the Committee on 23 March 2022.

Read the government's response ↗ Read the report ↗ Report an error

How the inquiry ran

Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from the inquiry's opening on 26 January 2022 to 28 April 2022. The dashed mark is the deadline Parliament records for the government's response.

  1. Oral evidence 9 Feb 2022
  2. Report 22 Feb 2022
  3. Government response 28 Apr 2022
  4. Correspondence 25 Apr 2022

What it recommended

The committee's recommendations are not listed here yet. Read them in Fortieth Report - Excess votes 2020–21: Serious Fraud Office ↗ on parliament.uk.

Evidence

Oral evidence sessions 1

Who gave evidence 3 witnesses

  • Lisa OsofskyDirector, Serious Fraud Office
  • Liz CorrinHead of Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer, Serious Fraud Office
  • Michelle CrottyChief Capability Officer, Serious Fraud Office

Correspondence 1 letter