Recommendation 4

Achieving value for money from government expenditure during COVID-19 is being compromised by poor quality impact assessments and Accounting Officer assessments. Government accepted the need for a higher risk appetite in order to make decisions and move funding more quickly for COVID-related measures, adapting the Managing public money principles to the extraordinary situation. It flexed its approach to value for money to adapt to the need to act quickly and provide funding rapidly. HM Treasury believes that the Managing public money framework worked well over the pandemic. However, it acknowledges that impact assessments for some COVID-19 measures needed better data and better evidence to justify the financial investment. Furthermore, it accepts that there needs to be clearer guidance around Accounting Officer assessments, particularly around how you assess risk appetite in an emergency, and assessments across multiple departments. It is planning on identifying and sharing examples of good assessments, and more training across finance functions on how Managing public money works, including for ministers. Recommendation: HM Treasury should report back to this Committee by the end of 2021 on its progress improving the quality of impact assessments and Accounting Officer assessments, and its roll out of training on Managing public money, so that proper emphasis on achieving value for money is restored. Recommendation: HM Treasury should review major COVID-related spending decisions to identify cases where decisions made during the pandemic have resulted in poor value for money. It should report its findings back to this Committee by the end of 2021, and use the lessons learnt to produce guidance to minimise the risk of this happening in the future.