Recommendations & Conclusions
11 items
2
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - Managing government …
Accepted
We are concerned that the Treasury, DMO and NS&I will not have the necessary skills, experience, and institutional knowledge needed to overcome the challenges they face now, and in the years to come. The DMO and NS&I are both specialist organisations, with distinctly different skills sets and experience to those …
Government response. The government agreed, stating the recommendation is implemented. NS&I plans to upskill its workforce by insourcing IT and service integration skills and growing commercial expertise, while the DMO has a developed resourcing strategy including succession planning.
HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - Managing government …
Accepted
We are not convinced that the Treasury, DMO and NS&I have adequately captured the lessons learned during the financial crisis and pandemic to prepare them to deal with the challenges to come. Government borrowed vast amounts during both the financial crisis that began in 2007, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The …
Government response. The government agreed, stating lessons from crises have improved preparedness, citing the Professionalising Crisis Management project and the development of crisis manuals. It noted the DMO's annual remit-setting acts as a lessons-learned process and NS&I's transformation programme is addressing operational …
HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - Managing government …
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from HM Treasury (the Treasury), the Debt Management Office (DMO), National Savings & Investments (NS&I) and the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on the management of government borrowing.2
Government response. The government agreed to an implied recommendation regarding performance reporting, stating it will examine international best practice, assess prospective quantitative and qualitative measures, and will write to the Committee once this analysis is concluded.
HM Treasury
7
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - Managing government …
Accepted
In light of the government’s debt management objective being high-level and the lack of measurable success criteria or indicators to assess whether the objective was being met, the NAO recommended that the Treasury should consider ways to align and extend how it measured progress against the objective.11 In response to …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation and commits to examining international best practice, assessing quantitative and qualitative measures, and systematically reporting performance by Spring 2025 to improve debt management objective measurement.
HM Treasury
12
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - Managing government …
Accepted
Government borrowed vast amounts during both the financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Treasury, on behalf of government, required the DMO to raise £486 billion during the pandemic, triple the original remit for 2020–21, while NS&I had a record target of £35 billion, revised upwards from £6 billion. The …
Government response. The government states the recommendation is implemented, detailing how it has captured lessons learned from previous crises, established a Professionalising Crisis Management project, and committed to learning from the pandemic response. It also notes NS&I's transformation programme will improve systems …
HM Treasury
13
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - Managing government …
Accepted
In November 2022, the Bank of England started to actively unwind its QE programme, a process also known as quantitative tightening, meaning for the first time it was selling gilts at the same time as the DMO. In the 12 months from September 2022, the Bank of England reduced the …
Government response. The government states the recommendation is implemented, detailing how it has captured lessons learned from previous crises, established a Professionalising Crisis Management project, and committed to learning from the pandemic response. It also notes NS&I's transformation programme will improve systems …
HM Treasury
14
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - Managing government …
Accepted
We asked the DMO what risks quantitative tightening will create for government borrowing. The DMO told us that in 2023–24, the net supply of gilts was “at a historical high”, which was a challenge for the market in terms of absorbing the higher supply and establishing the “right price”.22 The …
Government response. The government claims the recommendation is already implemented, citing ongoing initiatives like the Professionalising Crisis Management project, the annual DMO remit setting process, and NS&I's transformation programme as existing efforts to improve preparedness and learn lessons from past crises.
HM Treasury
20
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - Managing government …
Accepted
NS&I told us it had now successfully completed all the procurement stages and secured all the suppliers for the Rainbow Programme, meaning it was moving into the delivery phase. Despite meeting this milestone, NS&I still described the Rainbow Programme as a “big, complex programme” with many moving parts and challenges. …
Government response. The government states it agrees with and has implemented the 'recommendation', even though the original item was a conclusion. It confirms NS&I is actively working with its suppliers to formulate an integrated transition plan, which will be shared with the …
HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - Managing government …
Accepted
Government borrowing is a complex process, requiring substantial experience and judgement.38 The DMO explained that it was set up as a “specialist organisation” with staff that have very specific skills which are “not normally found in the Treasury”. It added that the DMO is a “repository of specialist skills” available …
Government response. The government states it agrees with and has implemented the 'recommendation', despite the original item being a conclusion. It details plans for NS&I to upskill staff and grow expertise, the DMO's resourcing strategy, and several HM Treasury initiatives to improve …
HM Treasury
22
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - Managing government …
Accepted
The DMO is entering a period of transition, with the current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) due to retire at the end of June 2024 after being in post for over 20 years. We noted that an advert had been placed for the role, and asked the Treasury what the timeframe …
Government response. The government states the recommendation is implemented, highlighting ongoing plans by NS&I to upskill, the DMO's developed resourcing strategy, and HM Treasury's recent pay uplift for staff to address retention and skills shortages.
HM Treasury
23
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - Managing government …
Accepted
We asked NS&I whether it was working collaboratively with other parts of government to overcome some of the issues being faced on its Rainbow Programme. NS&I told us that it was receiving support from the Cabinet Office on “various complex transactions”. The Treasury added that it was “upskilling” and increasing …
Government response. The government claims the recommendation is already implemented, detailing NS&I's plans to upskill and insource IT skills, the DMO's resourcing strategy, and HMT's recent grade de-merger to address skills shortages and retention.
HM Treasury