Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 27
27
Accepted
Group bodies face significant accounts preparation and audit issues for 2022-23.
Conclusion
We questioned the Department on the capacity of other bodies in its Group to prepare their Accounts to the required timescales, as we were aware that a number of bodies did not yet have auditors appointed for 2022–23, and this could have a significant impact on the Department being able to bring the laying date of the Group Annual Report and Accounts forward. The Department confirmed that there will be significantly more accounts preparation and audit issues in 2022–23 as Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) were formed mid-year meaning there are audits to be undertaken of both ICBs and also the 46 HM Treasury ‘Dear Accounting Officer Letter’, DAO 08/21, 16 December 2021 47 Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts 2020–21,HC 1053, 31 January 2022, page 2 48 Committee of Public Accounts, Department of Health and Social Care 2020–21 Annual Report and Accounts, Sixth Report of Session 2022–23, HC 253, 10 June 2022, para 31 49 Q 3 50 Q 4 51 Qq 140–142 52 Q 6 53 Q 138 Department of Health and Social Care 2021–22 Annual Report and Accounts 15 former Clinical Commissioning Groups that ICBs replaced. The Department said it was working with the Department for Levelling Up Homes and Communities (DLUHC) to remove barriers to entry for more audit firms to enter the local audit market.54 Financial control across the departmental group
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and commits to a multi-year plan to return to a pre-summer recess timetable for laying accounts by the 2025-26 financial year, aiming to publish the 2022-23 accounts in November 2023, and states it is working to address external factors like local audit capacity.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: July 2026 5.2 The department is committed to the removal of all qualifications. The department has largely addressed the root causes of ongoing qualifications, mainly through the provision of audit evidence for consumables inventories in the Core Department and Agencies’ and Group’s Statement of Financial Position. 5.3 The department is committed to a return to a pre-summer recess timetable. The department is working to a multi-year plan which aims to bring the timetable forward by approximately two months each year. The department currently aims to lay its 2022-23 accounts in November 2023 and return to a pre-summer recess timetable for the 2025-26 financial year. 5.4 However, the factors underpinning the delays in local audit completion, mainly capacity issues are not wholly within the control of the department. The government is working to address these, and successful resolution of these issues will be critical in enabling the department to lay its accounts ahead of the summer recess. For context, local audits would need to all be completed at least one month sooner than the deadline of 30 June 2023 set for the 2022-23 audit cycle. 5.5 In addition, the increased requirements on auditors (including the National Audit Office (NAO)) lead to particular challenges on a large and complex departmental group. Whilst the department and NAO recognise these challenges, they themselves are not expected to be a barrier to achieving a pre-summer recess audit timetable.