Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Acknowledged
The lack of summary AO assessments being published remains a real concern.31 HM Treasury said...
Conclusion
The lack of summary AO assessments being published remains a real concern.31 HM Treasury said that there can be practical reasons why summary AO assessments take longer to publish – for example, because the department concerned is in the middle of a commercial negotiation or is engaging with the market. It recognised that it had to do more, through training for example, to create a culture where people see the benefits and value of completing an assessment .32 Responding to the NAO’s report, HM Treasury wrote to all accounting officers to emphasise that an AO assessment reflects a programme’s status at a point in time and asking that summaries of all AO assessments are published by September 2022. It said it would write to us with a summary of the outcome of this exercise so the Committee can directly raise with accounting officers why there are gaps in performance at its future sessions.33 21 C&AG’s Report, paras 3.10 to 3.13 22 Q 21 23 Q 47 24 Q 21; C&AG’s Report, para 2.5; Figure 8 25 Qq 1, 10, 13; C&AG’s report, para 1.14 26 C&AG’s report, para 3.8 27 C&AG’s report, para 3.9; Figure 9 28 Q 12 29 C&AG’s report, para 3.8; Figure 10 30 Q 15 31 Q 15, 37 32 Q 37–38 33 Qq 12, 47 Improving the Accounting Officer Assessment process 11 2 Maximising the value of AO assessments Consistent application
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the committee's recommendation and outlines existing measures such as the senior finance function sign-off, treasury spending teams engagement, Government Finance Academy training, Finance Directors forum, and Accounting Officer Responsibilities Round table to support AO assessments.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
2. PAC conclusion: The quality of published AO assessments varies, with some providing insufficient information to understand a programme’s purpose or how it has been assessed. 2. PAC recommendation: HM Treasury should share with departments good practice, to help facilitate learning from others and draw in expertise, to support them in addressing difficult factors as part of AO assessments. 21 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 2.2 Accounting Officer Assessment guidance published in December 2021 required all draft Accounting Officer Assessment to be signed off by a senior member of the Finance Function within the department. This was designed to drive improvements to AO assessments via the Finance Function, as well as provide additional assurance. 2.3 Treasury spending teams and Treasury Officer of Accounts continue to engage with departments on specific projects and proposals to provide support and expertise in the preparation of AO assessment, both informally and via the Treasury Approval point process. 2.4 More broadly, Treasury Officer of Accounts has worked with the Government Finance Academy to deliver training to teams across government on AO assessments. This training will be updated and repeated on an ongoing basis, while recordings of the training are available on the One Finance platform on demand. This draws on the recommendations made in the NAO report. 2.5 In addition, HM Treasury continues to engage with Finance Directors via the Finance Leadership Group as well as providing training to Accounting Officers via the regular Accounting Officer Responsibilities Round table for all new Accounting Officers.