Recommendation 23

HM Treasury assured us that in broad terms government’s pre-pandemic plans and programmes have remained largely in place. It told us that the areas where there has been significant reprioritisation or pausing have tended to be the ones that have been badly affected by COVID-19, the most obvious example being the NHS where delivery of efficiencies planned for this financial year have not been possible. However, most of the rest of the government’s public spending programmes have continued as planned.42 HM Treasury was not able to give us an estimate of the cost attached to programmes that have been paused or cancelled.43 It told us that government’s two largest savings projects that reprioritise funding to the COVID-19 response are the changes to the overseas aid budget and the freezing of public sector pay.44