Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 6
6
We noted that the public inquiry into government’s handling of COVID-19 was due to start...
Conclusion
We noted that the public inquiry into government’s handling of COVID-19 was due to start in the spring or summer of 2022, and that understanding how money was being spent was likely to be an important part of this inquiry. We therefore asked HM Treasury how it would ensure that this information was kept in good shape to allow for proper scrutiny and oversight about how government had handled the pandemic. HM Treasury explained that there were three elements to identifying the cost of COVID-19. The first is the direct public expenditure during the pandemic, which was captured by the cost tracker. Secondly, there would be ongoing costs to public services in the future which would not have happened were it not for the pandemic, which it told us was “easy to measure today … [but] gets harder to measure as time goes by”. It explained that the third element is the indirect cost due to the effect on the economy, jobs and businesses, and the effect of this on tax revenue, which it told us was much more difficult to answer.12
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2023 2.2 HM Treasury (the department) recognises the helpful role the cost tracker has played in improving transparency on the cost of COVID-19, providing timely updates on the nature and scale of spend. The Treasury has therefore committed to continue to conduct a routine review of these costs, where there have been material changes that can be reliably attributed to COVID-19, and to provide public updates. 2.3 These updates will be published annually for the next two years, after which the Treasury will review what is still required given, over time, it will become increasingly difficult to distinguish COVID-19 pandemic spend from business as usual spend. These annual publications will provide updates on, for example, the estimated lifetime cost of loans (including the Bounce Back Loan Scheme and loans through the Culture Recovery Fund). It will also provide updates on the costs of large COVID-19 pandemic specific public services measures, such as vaccines and balance sheet items such as personal protective equipment. 17 2.4 This annual document will supplement audited figures in departmental annual reports and accounts and other publications, providing a timely update with provisional (unaudited) data.