Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 31
31
To provide proper timely accountability on how public funds have been spent, the administrative deadline...
Conclusion
To provide proper timely accountability on how public funds have been spent, the administrative deadline set by Treasury for Departments to publish their Annual Report and Accounts is 30 June, where possible, and no later than the parliamentary summer recess in July. An extension must be agreed for publication beyond this date. The Department published its 2020–21 Annual Report and Accounts on 31 January 2022, the day of the statutory deadline for all Departments. The Department told us it is working hard to bring the publication of its 2021–22 Annual Report and Accounts forward, with an aim to publish these in November 2022. It plans to continue to work to bring forward publication in subsequent, with the ultimate aim of moving back to a publication date prior to the summer parliamentary recess.61
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
8: PAC conclusion: There is no clear plan as to how the Department will bring forward the publication date of its annual report and accounts. 8: PAC recommendation: The Department should develop a detailed and realistic plan for bringing forward the preparation and publication of its annual report and to improve timeliness of its accountability for the use of taxpayers’ money. 8.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation Target implementation date: December 2023 8.2 The department has a plan to bring forward its accounts preparation process to allow pre-summer recess laying of its annual report and accounts (ARA). This has been communicated to national and local auditors. 8.3 The department will not be able to support pre-recess laying of the ARA for 2022-23 due to the significant accounting complexities associated with International Financial Reporting Standard 16 - Leases, the residual impact of the delays to laying prior year accounts due to the pandemic and the impact of the Health and Care Act 2022. 8.4 The department is working to return to pre-recess laying of the ARA from 2023-24 onwards and is working with the NAO to enable this. However, this ambition is dependent upon the capacity of the national and local audit markets. Significant work is underway, in conjunction with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and others, to relieve the current pressures in the local audit market and further work will be required in the coming months to establish whether it is possible for a group with such reliance on this market to return to pre-recess laying in 2023-24.