Recommendation 17

The Department has commissioned evaluation of its business support schemes; however, it cautioned that it is proving challenging to separate the impact of various aspects of government’s overall support package which also included, for example the furlough scheme.61 Several of the Department’s major areas of expenditure in the coming years, such as supporting public sector decarbonisation and achieving net zero, will again require routing taxpayer funds through third parties as it did with COVID-19 business support schemes. 54 Qq 18, 21 55 Q 16 56 Q 64 57 Q 62 58 ICAEW, paras 20, 26, 34 59 Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Annual report and accounts 2020–21, 25 November 2021, Accountability report, page 123 60 ICAEW, paras 34–35 61 Q 40 14 Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy Annual Report and Accounts 2020–21 2 Post Office Horizon IT programme compensation