Select Committee · Public Accounts Committee

DHSC Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24

Status: Closed Opened: 15 Jan 2025 Closed: 17 Jul 2025 21 recommendations 13 conclusions 1 report

In May 2024 , the PAC found that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) had been getting the basics unacceptably wrong in their financial management and accountability for public spending – for the second year running. Its report expressed disappointment that, four years after the pandemic …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
25th Report - DHSC Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24 HC 639 14 May 2025 34 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

1 item
33 Recommendation 25th Report - DHSC Annual Report and Ac… Accepted in Part

NHS England attributes audit delays primarily to local market pressures, not systemic NHS problems.

We asked the Department and NHS England why so many NHS commissioners and NHS providers missed the deadline for completing their financial audits, and what it was doing to ensure that this improved. NHS England recognised that the number of organisations who were meeting the June deadline was lower than …

Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation to improve audit timeliness and outlines a multi-year plan to return to pre-recess laying of annual reports. It is working with stakeholders to build capacity and resilience in the local audit market but acknowledges …
HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

1 session
Date Witnesses
13 Mar 2025 Andy Brittain · Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Julian Kelly · NHS England, Professor Dame Jenny Harries · UK Health Security Agency, Professor Sir Chris Whitty · Department for Health and Social Care View ↗

Correspondence

8 letters
DateDirectionTitle
15 Dec 2025 To cttee Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Health and Social Car…
8 Dec 2025 To cttee Letter from the Chief Executive of NHS England relating to the Committee’s Twen…
17 Nov 2025 To cttee Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Health and Social Car…
4 Sep 2025 To cttee Letter from the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care relating to the D…
8 May 2025 To cttee Letter from the Interim Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Soc…
28 Apr 2025 To cttee Letter from the Interim Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Soc…
24 Apr 2025 To cttee Letter from the Chief Financial Officer at NHS England relating to the oral evi…
20 Mar 2025 To cttee Letter from the Chief Executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network…