Recommendation 14

The COVID-19 pandemic placed increased pressure on government departments to respond to a crisis while continuing to provide their business-as-usual services. The Comptroller and Auditor General told us that the NAO had now, for the most part, completed its examination of the initial schemes that were implemented at pace in response to the acute phase of the pandemic. He explained that in relation to the pandemic, the NAO was now examining longer-term issues such as the impact of backlogs in many public services and the recovery of fraudulent payments. He noted, however, that lessons can be drawn from these initial schemes, particularly regarding the trade-off between the need to act at speed, and control of public money and value for money.32