Recommendation 12

Framework agreements and Accounting Officer System Statements are important in clarifying relationships and accountabilities, both between departments and ALBs and across wider departmental groups.24 Framework agreements formalise the governing principles and the relationship between ALB and sponsor department, and Accounting Officer System Statements set out the accountability relationships and processes within a departmental group. Four out of the 10 framework agreements examined by the NAO were 16 Q 45, C&AG’s report, para 2.7 17 C&AG’s report, para 3.16 18 Q 24 19 Q 81, C&AG’s report, para 3.17 20 Committee of Public Accounts, Department’s oversight of arm’s-length bodies, Twenty-first Report of Session 2016–17, HC 488, 21 October 2016 21 Qq 1, 34, C&AG’s report, para 3.7 22 Committee of Public Accounts, Department’s oversight of arm’s-length bodies, Twenty-first Report of Session 2016–17, HC 488, 21 October 2016 23 Q 39 24 Q 8 Government’s delivery through arm’s-length bodies 11 out of date, and three Accounting Officer System Statements had not been updated since 2017.25 Departments told us that where the current arrangements appeared to be working there was little appetite to revisit and update these documents, regardless of when they were last reviewed. HM Treasury acknowledged that these are ‘living documents’ and should be regularly reviewed and kept up to date.26 25 C&AG’s report, paras 3.13, 17 26 Qq 8, 49 12 Government’s delivery through arm’s-length bodies 2 Data and risk assessment A common view of risk