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Select Committee · Public Accounts Committee

Improving the Accounting Officer Assessment Process

Status: Closed Opened: 9 Jun 2022 Closed: 24 Feb 2023 11 recommendations 8 conclusions 1 report

Accounting Officers are the most senior permanent official in a department - the permanent secretary, or the chief executive of a Government agency, who are personally accountable to Parliament for the use of public money in delivering Government policy, projects and programmes. It is most usually the Accounting Officer that is questioned by the Public …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Twenty-Eighth Report - Improving the Accounting Officer Ass… HC 43 30 Nov 2022 19 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

2 items
8 Conclusion Twenty-Eighth Report - Improving the Ac… Acknowledged

The quality of published summary AO assessments varied.20 For example, departments generally provided basic information...

The quality of published summary AO assessments varied.20 For example, departments generally provided basic information such as background on the programme. But they did not provide more detailed information to help a layperson understand, for example, a programme’s aims. And some provided generic descriptions of how the AO had considered …

Government response. The government acknowledges the committee's recommendation and outlines existing measures such as the senior finance function sign-off, treasury spending teams engagement, Government Finance Academy training, Finance Directors forum, and Accounting Officer Responsibilities Round table to support AO assessments.
HM Treasury
11 Conclusion Twenty-Eighth Report - Improving the Ac… Acknowledged

The lack of summary AO assessments being published remains a real concern.31 HM Treasury said...

The lack of summary AO assessments being published remains a real concern.31 HM Treasury said that there can be practical reasons why summary AO assessments take longer to publish – for example, because the department concerned is in the middle of a commercial negotiation or is engaging with the market. …

Government response. The government acknowledges the committee's recommendation and outlines existing measures such as the senior finance function sign-off, treasury spending teams engagement, Government Finance Academy training, Finance Directors forum, and Accounting Officer Responsibilities Round table to support AO assessments.
HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

1 session
Date Witnesses
18 Jul 2022 Alex Chisholm · Cabinet Office, Cat Little · Cabinet Office, Nick Smallwood · Infrastructure and Projects Authority, Sir Tom Scholar · HM Treasury View ↗

Correspondence

11 letters
DateDirectionTitle
12 Jan 2023 — Correspondence from Alex Chisholm, Civil Service Chief Operating Officer and Ca…
6 Dec 2022 — Correspondence from Sarah Healey, Permanent Secretary, Department for Digital, …
6 Dec 2022 From cttee Correspondence from Matthew Rycroft CBE, Permanent Secretary, re Accounting Off…
6 Dec 2022 — Correspondence from Alex Chisholm, Civil Service Chief Operating Officer and Ca…
5 Dec 2022 — Correspondence from Alex Chisholm, Civil Service Chief Operating Officer and Ca…
5 Dec 2022 — Correspondence from Antonia Romeo, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, re…
30 Nov 2022 — Correspondence to HM Treasury, dated 30 November 2022, relating to the Committe…
22 Nov 2022 — Correspondence from Dame Meg Hillier, Chair, Committee on Public Accounts to Al…
22 Nov 2022 — Correspondence from Dame Meg Hillier, Chair, Committee on Public Accounts to An…
22 Nov 2022 — Correspondence from Dame Meg Hillier, Chair, Committee on Public Accounts to Ma…
22 Nov 2022 — Correspondence from Dame Meg Hillier, Chair, Committee on Public Accounts to Al…