Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 20
69th Report - Whole of Government Accounts 2023-24
Published 4 Mar 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Whole of Government Accounts 2023-24 All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Under IFRS, the Treasury uses a real (inflation-adjusted) discount rate to value long-term obligations such as provisions and pensions. While appropriate under accounting rules, this means annual movements in liabilities can reflect economic shifts rather than changes in policy or risk. To aid transparency and comparability between years, we have previously urged HM Treasury to publish both discounted and undiscounted values for all major long-term liabilities.38 HM Treasury produced discounted and undiscounted values only for the nuclear decommissioning provision in 2023–24.39
From: Public Accounts Committee, 69th Report - Whole of Government Accounts 2023-24 (HC 1243), 4 March 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 1 June 2026 (deadline 4 May 2026).