Recommendations & Conclusions
13 items
2
Recommendation
Twenty-Ninth Report - Whitehall prepara…
Accepted
Government is not doing enough to ensure businesses and citizens will be ready for the end of the transition period, and it is unclear what has been learnt from the previous ‘Get ready for Brexit’ campaign. The Cabinet Office launched a new communications campaign, ‘The UK’s new start: let’s get …
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Government is not doing enough to ensure businesses and citizens will be ready for the end of the transition period, and it is unclear what has been learnt from the previous ‘Get ready for Brexit’ campaign. The Cabinet Office launched a new communications campaign, ‘The UK’s new start: let’s get going’, in July. Its aim is to inform businesses and the public about what actions they need to take to be ready for the end of the transition period. Government survey data suggests that 36% of SMEs still believe the transition period will be extended, and the Cabinet Office does not know whether the remaining 64% have taken action to be ready. The Cabinet Office acknowledges the key lesson from its ‘Get ready for Brexit’ campaign is that it should track actions taken in response, rather than just measuring public awareness. The Cabinet Office plans to intensify communications as the deadline approaches but it is unclear if it has the necessary information on levels of readiness among businesses and individuals to successfully target this campaign. Current levels of readiness and a decrease in travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic mean some businesses and members of the public may not look for help or guidance until they plan to travel or import/export goods, which could be some time after the transition period has passed. Recommendation: Government must maximise all remaining opportunities for getting businesses and individuals to act in the time remaining to January 2021. It must ensure it has adequate information on what third parties are doing to take action, not just relying on surveys of awareness. Government needs to ensure ongoing communications and support for businesses and individuals who may only consider taking action well after 1 January 2021, such as when Covid-19 travel restrictions are eased. 6 Whitehall preparations for EU Exit
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Government response AI summary
The government states it has accepted and implemented the recommendation, detailing its multi-pronged approach including a national Public Information Campaign, GOV.UK tools, and intensive business engagement, along with the recent establishment of the Brexit Business Task Force.
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HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
Twenty-Ninth Report - Whitehall prepara…
Accepted
EU Exit and the Covid-19 response have shown up critical gaps in the civil service’s approach to planning, particularly for unexpected events or undesired outcomes. The Cabinet Office keeps a national risk register, with input from across government and particularly the Treasury. The risk register includes “unexpected events” in terms …
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EU Exit and the Covid-19 response have shown up critical gaps in the civil service’s approach to planning, particularly for unexpected events or undesired outcomes. The Cabinet Office keeps a national risk register, with input from across government and particularly the Treasury. The risk register includes “unexpected events” in terms of those that are irregular but known to occur, and those which may not have occurred before but which there may be a chance of occurring. However, in practice, recent events have shown up the limitations in these plans. Ministers specifically limited the amount of contingency planning the civil service was expected to carry out ahead of the EU Exit referendum in 2016. This led to a delay on negotiating positions and preparations as government had to take time after the referendum to formulate policy and determine what type of agreement they wanted to have with the EU. Our previous work on Covid-19 has highlighted the gaps in economic planning for pandemics, even though the risk of a pandemic was one of the most likely risks government had identified. The government has announced that there will be a review of its response to Covid-19, but so far only initial discussions have been held and no date has been set. Recommendation: The civil service has a duty to plan for multiple scenarios, even those which it or Ministers considers unlikely or undesirable. Civil servants should seek formal instruction if told not to plan by Ministers. Planning should be proportionate to the risk, but there should be mechanisms for activity to ramp up as risks get bigger. For example, on EU Exit, we would have expected increasing levels of planning from when the referendum commitment appeared in the Conservative Party manifesto. The civil service should consider the development of standard principles, particularly for planning for unexpected scenarios, which would put government in a better position to respond quickly.
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees and states the recommendation is implemented, describing existing scenario-based exercises and the enhancement of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat with a new multi-agency Command, Control and Coordination (C3) system from December 2020 to improve cross-government response capacity.
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HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
Twenty-Ninth Report - Whitehall prepara…
Accepted
Government still does not have a good grip on how much taxpayers’ money is being spent on cross-government priorities. The Treasury has acknowledged the need for more timely, transparent financial information on cross-government areas of work, including both EU Exit and the Covid-19 response. Before the NAO’s analysis, it did …
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Government still does not have a good grip on how much taxpayers’ money is being spent on cross-government priorities. The Treasury has acknowledged the need for more timely, transparent financial information on cross-government areas of work, including both EU Exit and the Covid-19 response. Before the NAO’s analysis, it did not have its own comprehensive information on government spending on EU Exit for 2019–20 or any earlier period, although it is now tracking information in-year for 2020–21. It has relied on departmental processes to ensure money on EU Exit has been used as expected. Departments are expected to publish information on EU Exit spending in their 2019–20 Annual Reports, but these have been delayed due to Covid-19 and the Treasury has identified inconsistencies in what has been presented so far. The Treasury plans to use its new OSCAR II finance system to collect better information from departments in the future, and this functionality is planned to be introduced in phases over the next year. It is not clear how this system will overcome difficulties in recording data from multiple bodies, especially that which does not fit into accounting categories, such as spending on Covid-19 or EU Exit. Recommendation: The Treasury should set out how it plans in future to have the additional tools needed to deal with cross-government spending issues, over and 8 Whitehall preparations for EU Exit above the existing Accounting Officer framework of control. This should cover how it will assure the quality and consistency of information departments provide, and how its systems will provide meaningful information on areas of spending which don’t meet “accounting definitions”. Whitehall preparations for EU Exit 9 1 Learning from EU Exit preparations
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees and states the recommendation is implemented. HM Treasury has established a dedicated central team to track COVID-19 and EU Exit funding, is upgrading its OSCAR system for spending data, and has adapted and improved accounting and performance reporting guidance for departments to …
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HM Treasury
9
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Whitehall prepara…
Accepted
The Cabinet Office recognises that other challenges government faces, such as the response to Covid-19, will also require cross-government working, working at pace, or working in new ways.18 The Cabinet Office feels that it has learnt a lot from EU Exit and put it into a practice via a process …
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The Cabinet Office recognises that other challenges government faces, such as the response to Covid-19, will also require cross-government working, working at pace, or working in new ways.18 The Cabinet Office feels that it has learnt a lot from EU Exit and put it into a practice via a process of continuous improvement, which has allowed it to apply lessons “every week and every month”.19 The Cabinet Office gave examples of how this was working operationally, such as in getting businesses to apply for Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) numbers, and when considering how to redistribute the responsibilities of the Department for Exiting the EU.20 The Cabinet Office confirmed that it has no plans to conduct a formal review of the preparations to set out what it can learn for the future.21 Instead, it is relying on the National Audit Office’s 8 Q 19; C&AG’s Report, para 19 9 Qq 19, 57–58; C&AG’s Report, para 25 10 Q 20 11 Qq 19–20; C&AG’s Report, para 23 12 Qq 80–81; C&AG’s Report, para 28 13 Q 19 14 Q 4; C&AG’s Report, para 21 15 Qq 4, 20, 44, 6 16 Q 45 17 Q 19, 110 18 Q 48 19 Qq 36, 38 20 Q 39 21 Q 37 Whitehall preparations for EU Exit 11 work to identify lessons. The Cabinet Office described a process of comparing the National Audit Office’s recommendations to current practice in the key areas of decision-making, innovation, information-sharing and considerable possible future scenarios. The Cabinet Office highlighted some specific actions which had been taken as a result, including expedited processes in the Treasury which have been used to provide additional funding for the border, sharing assumptions for the reasonable worst-case scenario for disruption at the short Channel crossings, and developing plans for the structures and resource flows needed to cope with the combination of EU Exit, Covid-19 and other external factors.22 We recognise the value of taking action quickly via continuous improvement activity and are pleased that the Cabine
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Government response AI summary
The government details how it applies lessons learned from EU Exit and other reports, such as using an enhanced communications approach and developing a comprehensive system for measuring campaign impact, which aligns with the continuous improvement noted by the committee.
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HM Treasury
10
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Whitehall prepara…
Accepted
The Cabinet Office has a key role in ensuring government is ready to respond to unexpected and unprecedented events. It is responsible for coordinating civil contingencies response to unexpected events, conducting COBRA meetings, working with local resilience forums and with devolved administrations.24 The Cabinet Office also keeps a national risk …
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The Cabinet Office has a key role in ensuring government is ready to respond to unexpected and unprecedented events. It is responsible for coordinating civil contingencies response to unexpected events, conducting COBRA meetings, working with local resilience forums and with devolved administrations.24 The Cabinet Office also keeps a national risk register which includes “unexpected events” in terms of those that are irregular but known to occur, such as weather events. It also includes those which may not have occurred before but which there may be a chance of occurring. Examples of these sorts of events have included the Iraq war and the global financial crisis.25 Planning for risks on the risk register is managed with input from across government. In particular, the Treasury also works to formulate and assess the plans in the risk register.26
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees and states its recommendation is implemented, outlining how it already ensures robust contingency planning through regular scenario-based exercises, systematic risk assessment by the Civil Contingencies Secretariat, and the upcoming enhanced multi-agency Command, Control and Coordination (C3) system to address disruptive challenges holistically.
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HM Treasury
11
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Whitehall prepara…
Accepted
Recent events have shown up the limitations in government’s forward planning capability when put into practice. Ministers specifically limited the amount of contingency planning the civil service was expected to carry out ahead of the EU Exit referendum in 2016.27 While the Cabinet Office felt that was a reasonable position …
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Recent events have shown up the limitations in government’s forward planning capability when put into practice. Ministers specifically limited the amount of contingency planning the civil service was expected to carry out ahead of the EU Exit referendum in 2016.27 While the Cabinet Office felt that was a reasonable position for ministers to take, it admitted that this decision had led to a delay on negotiating positions and preparations as government had to take time after the referendum to formulate policy and determine what type of agreement they wanted to have with the EU, at time when the speed of the response was critical.28 The Cabinet Office said that it had done work during the most recent election to prepare based on party manifestos, acknowledging that the civil service sometimes has a role which does not depend on ministerial input.29 While the Cabinet Office was not aware of any other areas where the civil service has asked to carry out planning work and has been told it cannot, we are sceptical that this provides any assurance that such an issue may not later come to light.30
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the committee's observations and states the recommendation is implemented, highlighting its regular scenario-based exercises and the work of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS). It also commits to supplementing the CCS with an enhanced multi-agency Command, Control and Coordination (C3) system from …
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HM Treasury
12
Recommendation
Twenty-Ninth Report - Whitehall prepara…
Accepted
Our previous work on Covid-19 has highlighted the gaps in economic planning for pandemics, even though the risk of a pandemic was one of the most likely risks government had identified. In July 2020, we recommended that the Cabinet Office should review its contingency planning for the most serious risks …
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Our previous work on Covid-19 has highlighted the gaps in economic planning for pandemics, even though the risk of a pandemic was one of the most likely risks government had identified. In July 2020, we recommended that the Cabinet Office should review its contingency planning for the most serious risks and ensure that these consider whole-of-government impacts, including economic modelling, and we will monitor how government responds to the issue.31 22 Q 44 23 Q 38 24 Q 4; C&AG’s Report, Contingency preparations for exiting the EU with no deal, Session 2017–19, HC 2058, 12 March 2019, pages 10–12 25 Q 6 26 Qq 8–9 27 Q 15; C&AG’s Report, para 11 28 Qq 15–16 29 Q 43 30 Q 17 31 Q5; Whole of Government Response to COVID-19, Thirteenth Report of Session 2019–21, HC 404 dated 16 July 2020 and Published on 23 July 2020 12 Whitehall preparations for EU Exit The government has announced that there will be a review of its response to Covid-19, which the Cabinet Office expects will provide some lessons for the future in terms of how the pandemic has affected different parts of the economy and different parts of the country.32 However the review has not yet progressed beyond the scoping stage. The Cabinet Office informed us that so far only initial discussions have been held and no date has been set.33 Financial Management
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees and states the recommendation is implemented, detailing its ongoing systematic risk assessment, regular scenario-based exercises, and the establishment of an enhanced multi-agency Command, Control and Coordination (C3) system from December 2020 to ensure holistic risk management across government.
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HM Treasury
15
Recommendation
Twenty-Ninth Report - Whitehall prepara…
Accepted
The Treasury has acknowledged the need for more timely, transparent financial information on cross-government areas of work, including both EU Exit and the Covid-19 response.39 In the past, it has said that this is particularly difficult because these areas of work do not fit into accounting categories used to collect …
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The Treasury has acknowledged the need for more timely, transparent financial information on cross-government areas of work, including both EU Exit and the Covid-19 response.39 In the past, it has said that this is particularly difficult because these areas of work do not fit into accounting categories used to collect data.40 The Treasury expects that its new OSCAR II finance system will enable it to collect better information from departments and arm’s-length bodies in the future. It set out plans to introduce functionality which would allow it over the next year to collect data on cash forecasting as well as programme data.41 It is not clear to us how this functionality will allow the Treasury to collect data on cross-government areas of work, or how it will address concerns about the consistency of data. We are also concerned at the speed at which the OSCAR II programme has been delivered, since it has been in the making for five or six years and still is not scheduled to begin to collect data until next year.42 32 Q 5 33 Qq 13–14 34 C&AG’s Report, para 33; C&AG’s Report, The cost of EU Exit preparations, Session 2019–21, HC 102, 6 March 2020, page 7 35 Qq 63–6 36 Qq 64, 83–84 37 Q 65; C&AG’s Report, para 31 38 Q 63; C&AG’s Report, paras 27, 32 39 Q 63 40 Committee of Public Accounts, Whole of Government Accounts, Seventy-Fourth Report of Session 2017–19, HC 464, 25 January 2019; C&AG’s Report, The cost of EU Exit preparations, Session 2019–21, HC 102, 6 March 2020, page 25 41 Qq 68, 72 42 Q 7 Whitehall preparations for EU Exit 13 Staffing and use of consultants
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees and states the recommendation is implemented, detailing actions such as establishing a dedicated central team to track COVID-19 and EU Exit funding, providing updates to the Committee, upgrading the OSCAR system, and improving cross-government accounting guidance for better financial transparency.
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HM Treasury
19
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Whitehall prepara…
Accepted
Government has made extensive use of consultants to support preparations for EU Exit, and is also doing so on Covid-19. This Committee has raised concerns in the past about government’s increasing spend on consultants, and on the gap between the Cabinet Office’s and departments’ data on spending across government.50 The …
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Government has made extensive use of consultants to support preparations for EU Exit, and is also doing so on Covid-19. This Committee has raised concerns in the past about government’s increasing spend on consultants, and on the gap between the Cabinet Office’s and departments’ data on spending across government.50 The Treasury explained that consultants had been used as ‘substitutes for civil servants’, to fill supposed gaps in capacity and skills of the civil service. Both the Cabinet Office and the Treasury agreed with us that this was an area of concern, and plan to take action to reduce this spending in the future. The Treasury and the Cabinet Office have worked to update the definition of consultancy, and now use that single definition for all financial reporting. The Treasury anticipates that this will enable consultancy and contingent labour to be an area of focus in the 2020 spending review to ensure departments are making the best use of spending in this area.51
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the need to address consultant spending and has established a programme with a target implementation date of March 2021. This programme includes creating a Government Consulting Hub, reforming controls, improving data, developing a consultancy standard, and addressing workforce capability to reduce …
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HM Treasury
20
Recommendation
Twenty-Ninth Report - Whitehall prepara…
Accepted
The Cabinet Office set out that there is sometimes a need for consultants with 43 Q 101; C&AG’s Report, para 15 44 Qq 53, 54; C&AG’s Report, para 26 45 Qq 5, 18 46 Qq 46, 53; C&AG’s Report para 17 47 Q 53 48 Q 5 49 Qq 108–109 …
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The Cabinet Office set out that there is sometimes a need for consultants with 43 Q 101; C&AG’s Report, para 15 44 Qq 53, 54; C&AG’s Report, para 26 45 Qq 5, 18 46 Qq 46, 53; C&AG’s Report para 17 47 Q 53 48 Q 5 49 Qq 108–109 50 Committee of Public Accounts, Brexit Consultancy Costs, One Hundred and Twelfth Report of Session 2017–19, HC 2342, 12 September 2019 51 Qq 74–75, 78 14 Whitehall preparations for EU Exit specialist skills, or temporary staff to work on short-term projects, which we recognise, but agreed that as a whole government made too much use of consultants and contractors. It intends to reduce government’s spending on consultants, working with departments to developing additional capacity and skills in-house to reduce the need for consultants. This work is particularly focussed on core skills, particularly in the digital area. We look forward to seeing the success of these initiatives, as set out by the Cabinet Office, in reduced expenditure on consultants and contractors, and clear evidence of the increased skill level of civil servants.52 52 Qq 78–79 Whitehall preparations for EU Exit 15 2 Preparations for the end of the transition period Communications
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the recommendation to reduce spending on consultants and contractors, outlining a programme that includes establishing a Government Consulting Hub by early 2021, reforming central controls, improving data quality, developing a new consultancy standard, and tackling capacity and capability drivers.
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HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Whitehall prepara…
Accepted
The Cabinet Office launched a new communications campaign, ‘The UK’s new start: let’s get going’, in July. Its aim is to inform businesses and the public about what actions they need to take to be ready for the end of the transition period.53 The campaign has a budget of £70 …
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The Cabinet Office launched a new communications campaign, ‘The UK’s new start: let’s get going’, in July. Its aim is to inform businesses and the public about what actions they need to take to be ready for the end of the transition period.53 The campaign has a budget of £70 million through to the end of March 2021.54 The previous communications campaign, ‘Get ready for Brexit’, which was in place ahead of the 31 October 2019 deadline and which had a budget of £100 million.55 The Cabinet Office informed us that it had responded to the recommendations in that report in terms of improving monitoring information through the development of key performance indicators for its latest campaign with established baselines and tracking of progress on a monthly basis.56 It acknowledged that the key lesson from its ‘Get ready for Brexit’ campaign is that it should track actions taken in response, rather than just measuring public awareness.57
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Government response AI summary
The government states it agrees and is already implementing this, detailing its three-fold approach of public information campaigns, GOV.UK tools, and intensive business engagement. It confirms that the current campaign tracks actions taken, not just awareness, through independent surveys and established a Brexit Business Task …
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HM Treasury
22
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Whitehall prepara…
Accepted
Despite the new campaign having been underway for some time, there remains a significant risk that businesses and individuals will not be ready for the end of the transition period. Government survey data suggests that 36% of SMEs still believe the transition period will be extended.58 The picture is changing …
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Despite the new campaign having been underway for some time, there remains a significant risk that businesses and individuals will not be ready for the end of the transition period. Government survey data suggests that 36% of SMEs still believe the transition period will be extended.58 The picture is changing rapidly, and the percentage had come down from 43% to 36% in the last month.59 However, the Cabinet Office does not know whether the remaining 64% have taken action to be ready.60 The Cabinet Office reports that it has seen progress on other actions taken by individuals and businesses to be ready. For example, the Cabinet Office says 3.91 million EU nationals in the UK have registered for the EU settlement scheme, meeting its expected target. The Cabinet Office also informed us that more than 90% of businesses have completed the necessary registrations for getting an economic operator registration and identification (EORI) number, which will be required for moving goods between the UK and the EU.61 The Cabinet Office plans to intensify communications as the deadline approaches, and work with third parties such as business representative organisations or intermediaries to reach small businesses in particular. We are not convinced that the Cabinet Office has the necessary information on levels of readiness among businesses and individuals to successfully target this campaign.62
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees and outlines its extensive preparedness efforts, including public information campaigns, GOV.UK tools, and business engagement events. It states that the current campaign uses independent surveys and ONS data to track intent and actions taken, providing information on readiness, and that engagement was …
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HM Treasury
24
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Whitehall prepara…
Accepted
Although the Cabinet Office believes it has been clear that businesses need to be ready for the end of the transition period, there are multiple dates in 2021 from which new requirements for businesses on importing and exporting to the EU will take effect.66 In February this year government announced …
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Although the Cabinet Office believes it has been clear that businesses need to be ready for the end of the transition period, there are multiple dates in 2021 from which new requirements for businesses on importing and exporting to the EU will take effect.66 In February this year government announced that there would be full introduction of controls at the end of the transition period, include export controls required by the EU. However, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on businesses and the border industry, government decided to phase in import controls to allow more time for preparations to be made by all parties.67 The first phase of import controls will be introduced on 1 January 2021 covering basic customs requirements and checks on controlled goods and high-risk live animals and plants. Further controls on products of animal and plant origin will operate from 1 April 2021 and full controls and import declarations will be required from 1 July.68 This will require businesses to be aware of what actions they need to take to be compliant at each stage. Actions required by businesses to move goods to or from the EU following EU Exit will also depend on the sector their business operates in, if they are a regulated business, and whether they employ EU nationals.69
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees and states the recommendation is implemented, outlining its ongoing public information campaigns, GOV.UK tools, and intensive business engagement, including the establishment of the Brexit Business Task Force in December 2020, all aimed at communicating new requirements to businesses.
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HM Treasury