Recommendations & Conclusions
19 items
3
Recommendation
57th Report - Government services: Gene…
Accepted
The Treasury and Department processes for changing fees are too slow and complex, which makes it harder for bodies to manage effectively their service costs and fee revenues. The case study services took an average of 63 weeks to change their fees. This results in long periods where their fees …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation and will implement new arrangements to reduce the time and complexity involved in amending fees.
HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
57th Report - Government services: Gene…
Accepted
The NAO reported that Treasury places primary reliance on individual department’s accounting officers to monitor their fees and charges. Accounting officers are responsible for maintaining effective governance and internal controls, including ensuring that fees are set appropriately and disclosed in-line with Treasury guidance.7 The Treasury highlighted that one of the …
Government response. HM Treasury will create a cross departmental working group to set out a comprehensive time-bound plan to be more systematic in supporting fee-charging public bodies, which will be shared with the Committee. The working group will discuss issuing operational guidance …
HM Treasury
7
Recommendation
57th Report - Government services: Gene…
Accepted
The NAO highlighted that government bodies would like practical examples of how to address common operational problems, such as forecasting user demand, or when and how to reflect inflationary pressures, so they can consider options on how best to handle them.11 The Treasury recognises that charging bodies face issues and …
Government response. HM Treasury will create a cross departmental working group to set out a comprehensive time-bound plan to support fee-charging public bodies, to be shared with the Committee, which will discuss issuing operational guidance and establishing a mechanism to share good …
HM Treasury
8
Conclusion
57th Report - Government services: Gene…
Accepted
We heard charging bodies would value more signposting of where to go for expert advice and support and to learn from others’ experience. DVLA told us that more can be done to share good practice and that it is important to get those responsible for fees together to talk about …
Government response. HM Treasury will create a cross departmental working group to set out a comprehensive time-bound plan to be more systematic in supporting fee-charging public bodies, which will be shared with the Committee. The working group will discuss issuing operational guidance …
HM Treasury
14
Recommendation
57th Report - Government services: Gene…
Accepted
The process for amending fees across government is slow and complex as certain public bodies took an average of 63 weeks, with the longest case taking over two years. This undermines financial sustainability because it makes it harder to recover costs. This delay is because bodies must first secure approval …
Government response. The Treasury will write to the Committee by May 2026 to set out proposals indicating the new arrangements to reduce the time and complexity of amending fees.
HM Treasury
15
Recommendation
57th Report - Government services: Gene…
Accepted
The NAO reported that the current timing of the process can result in fees that fail to keep pace with changing costs, particularly during periods of high inflation.28 The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) informed us that its latest fee change took around six months to complete and it is exploring …
Government response. The Treasury will write to the Committee by May 2026 to set out proposals indicating the new arrangements to reduce the time and complexity of amending fees.
HM Treasury
16
Recommendation
57th Report - Government services: Gene…
Accepted
The Treasury acknowledged that the decision-making process is time-consuming and disproportionate for low-risk, routine adjustments like inflation-linked increases. It told us it will introduce a standardised template, adopted from the Environment Agency’s approach, with the aim of improving completeness and consistency of departmental proposals. This change is intended to reduce …
Government response. The Treasury will write to the Committee by May 2026 to set out proposals indicating the new arrangements to reduce the time and complexity of amending fees.
HM Treasury
17
Recommendation
57th Report - Government services: Gene…
Accepted
The Treasury highlighted that the legislative scheduling adds uncertainty, particularly where secondary legislation must compete for Parliamentary time. We asked if the process could be simplified without diminishing parliamentary scrutiny, such as through consolidation of primary legislation to remove the need for secondary legislation. The Treasury told us this is …
Government response. The Treasury will write to the Committee by May 2026 to set out proposals indicating the new arrangements to reduce the time and complexity of amending fees.
HM Treasury
25
Recommendation
57th Report - Government services: Gene…
Accepted
The Treasury acknowledged that its system is largely reactive rather than strategic, relying on accounting officers’ general duty in respect of value for money, and periodic spending review targets to drive efficiency. It recognised the potential of emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, to reduce administrative costs and improve service …
Government response. The government claims that the Government Efficiency Framework (GEF) already provides extensive guidance for efficiency in the fee-setting framework and endorses public sector organisations to use the framework as a guiding set of principles on how they progress and track …
HM Treasury
2
Recommendation
58th Report - Government services: Iden…
Accepted
Most departments lack a sufficient understanding of their service costs and departments need help from HM Treasury and the Government Finance Function on the practical steps they can take to improve and upskill. While standards for service costing and financial management exist, they lack the necessary sophistication and are applied …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and will produce new costing guidance with departments to set a consistent standard for identifying and recording service costs. This includes defining scope, data sets, benchmarking, and integrating risk, supported by new systems and …
HM Treasury
4
Recommendation
58th Report - Government services: Iden…
Accepted
The lack of Single Service Owners with accountability for all aspects of an end-to-end service inhibits departments’ ability to identify the visibility of a service’s end-to-end cost and the incentive to reduce it. The absence of Single Service Owners (SSOs) with the right mandate and visibility prevents a full view …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and will issue a letter requiring Permanent Secretaries to complete an assessment of Single Service Owner gaps within six months and appoint SSOs within twelve months, with potential for acceleration.
HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
58th Report - Government services: Iden…
Accepted
There is a lack of urgency and clear leadership for resolving the legacy systems and poor data issues that inhibit the realisation of benefits through greater productivity and efficiency that departments will reap from new technology such as AI. Government transformation and efficiency efforts increasingly rely on artificial intelligence (AI), …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, stating GDS will develop a long-term plan for public data governance to exploit new technologies like AI. To secure and retain talent, they will mandate digital leaders on executive committees and digital non-executive directors on …
HM Treasury
7
Recommendation
58th Report - Government services: Iden…
Accepted
However, current obligations are focused on wider overall value for money and there are no specific objectives or accountability for Permanent Secretaries or senior leaders to collect detailed data on costs at the service level.8 Although the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury expect permanent secretaries to understand their cost drivers …
Government response. The Treasury will issue an updated Dear Accounting Officer letter that explicitly sets expectations for Accounting Officers and senior leaders to improve service-level cost information, and compliance will be monitored through end-year finance assessments; systemic issues will have remediation plans …
HM Treasury
8
Recommendation
58th Report - Government services: Iden…
Accepted
The Cabinet Office told us that political sponsorship and support is considered essential as well as that of senior leaders within departments.13 This aligns with government’s goal of creating a more “productive and agile state”.14 Introducing targets for getting processes and systems in place to identify the costs of services …
Government response. The Treasury will issue an updated Dear Accounting Officer letter by July 2026 that explicitly sets expectations for Accounting Officers and senior leaders to identify, use and continuously improve service‑level cost information.
HM Treasury
9
Recommendation
58th Report - Government services: Iden…
Accepted
Some standards for service costing and financial management exist.16 However, we repeatedly heard that they lack the necessary sophistication and are applied inconsistently across departments.17 We heard examples of where costing activities were taking place at a more granular level, but these mostly related to front line health and education …
Government response. The government will implement practical costing guidance by July 2026, sitting alongside Managing Public Money and Value for Money and providing a common approach to service costing, and set a consistent standard for service costing.
HM Treasury
12
Conclusion
58th Report - Government services: Iden…
Accepted
GFF is seeking to co-produce guidance with departments demonstrating good practice.27 Both Cabinet Office and GFF said that departments are receptive to this push, especially given the efficiency targets they are expected to meet as set out in the 2025 Spending Review.28 To support this, GFF told us that it …
Government response. HM Treasury and the Government Finance Function are co-ordinating practical costing guidance, produced with departments and informed by NAO advice, to provide a common, proportionate approach to service costing.
HM Treasury
16
Recommendation
58th Report - Government services: Iden…
Accepted
Departments do not generally have a good view of the additional time and people costs associated with specific business processes or different stages of the customer journey.38 We were therefore surprised to learn that there is no standard policy in the civil service on how staff time is tracked, and …
Government response. HM Treasury and the Government Finance Function are co-ordinating practical costing guidance on service costing, including activity-based techniques, overhead apportionment, staff-time capture options, and linking costs to outcomes.
HM Treasury
19
Recommendation
58th Report - Government services: Iden…
Accepted
Government transformation and efficiency efforts are increasingly reliant on newer technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).47 Legacy systems and poor-quality data remain a major barrier to reaping the full benefits.48 We heard that addressing data and legacy issues requires sustained effort and resilience and remain concerned that the pace of …
Government response. DSIT will publish a strategic data roadmap for public sector data in Spring 2026. The Government Digital Service will set out a long-term plan for how public data should be treated as a strategic asset across government. They will also …
HM Treasury
20
Recommendation
58th Report - Government services: Iden…
Accepted
Resource constraints at the centre of government mean that less support is available to departments compared to what was available under previous initiatives like the Top 75 programme.50 We have often observed on this committee that government pay rates cannot match what highly skilled people could earn in the private …
Government response. DSIT will publish a strategic data roadmap for public sector data in Spring 2026 and GDS will set out a long-term plan for public data leaders and for boards to appoint digital non-executive directors by 2026; further action will be …
HM Treasury