Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Accepted
HM Treasury told us that it is tracking and controlling public expenditure on COVID-19 in...
Conclusion
HM Treasury told us that it is tracking and controlling public expenditure on COVID-19 in the same way that it does routinely for all public expenditure, through regular monthly reporting of departments’ spending, which it described as a robust mechanism for tracking spend. It puts more focus and effort on tracking particular items of COVID-19 spending because they are large and, in many cases, novel.7 It has used the cost tracker to corroborate departments’ spend-to-date data, and to reconcile and challenge consistency of data across departments. Through the cost tracker, HM Treasury has picked up issues with categorisation of cost data, with the way in which departments are recording data, and with the completeness of information. It plans to use the cost tracker as a source of key information for the Whole of Government Accounts.8
Government response summary AI-generated
The government confirms it is already working closely with the National Audit Office (NAO) and departments to support the COVID-19 cost tracker, sharing information, assisting returns, and reconciling data.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
1.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 1.2 HM Treasury has worked closely with the National Audit Office (NAO) to support the publication of each version of the COVID-19 cost tracker and has shared information to help them identify new COVID-19-related measures. HM Treasury teams work closely with departments to assist their returns to the NAO and to reconcile these to internal HM Treasury data. 1.3 HM Treasury continues to develop closer partnerships with the NAO to produce cost tracker updates, including through regular meetings during and after the planning and project phases.
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