Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 11
11
The Department paid £2 million in 2020–21 to a professional services firm, PwC, to provide...
Conclusion
The Department paid £2 million in 2020–21 to a professional services firm, PwC, to provide support on grants and operations, including checks on awards made by TNLCF for the Coronavirus Community Support Fund (CCSF).38 We asked why this additional support had been needed and how the Department ensured that it was not duplicating work already being undertaken elsewhere. The Department said that this support was not designed to take over jobs from civil servants and that the majority of the administrative work relating to the funding for charities had been completed by civil servants. The Department explained that Ministers wanted to thoroughly understand the process that was being followed and ask questions about it given the pace at which progress was needed.39 When we asked TNLFC whether it felt that it had the skills necessary to undertake this work itself it said that it was “confident in our processes in terms of making the appropriate awards.”40 We questioned the additional value that the Department received for its £2 million investment of taxpayers’ money. The Department acknowledged that the process “had not been set up in the best possible way to start with” and that ultimately very few bids were subject to detailed review.41 It changed the process after a short amount of time because it decided that reviewing awards under £10,000 was overly onerous.42
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: September 2021 3.2 As a result of the COVID-19 emergency and the need to meet tight deadlines to distribute funds safely, DCMS contracted external consultants to provide expert grant management. Consultancy services were procured in two phases and delivered under an output-based delivery model tied to key deliverables. Consultants worked alongside and under the instruction of experienced civil servants to provide operational support to the programme. Throughout both phases, weekly governance meetings were held to review scope, resourcing and progress in achieving the performance milestones and objectives set out in the contracts. PricewaterhouseCoopers have been judged to have met the relevant performance metrics at all stages. 3.3 It is difficult to determine how and when a similar approach would be applied in future given the specific national and far-reaching challenges presented to government in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. In line with the Cabinet Office guidance on consultancy and professional services spend controls, DCMS will continue to ensure that any proposal to engage professional services is thoroughly assessed on a case by case basis through its internal assurance process, including approval by the Commercial Director and through the Cabinet Office controls process as appropriate. 3.4 Post-event assurance on the DCMS elements of the charities’ financial support package is being conducted under a contracted service and is based on a sample-testing approach. As of 20 July 2021, 88% of the cases selected for testing were complete with no confirmed indications of fraud and/or error. Enquiries are still ongoing in relation to the remaining 12%. A determination of whether there has or has not been potential irregularity in those cases will be made once the inquiry is complete. The department expects to receive the report on post-event assurance by August 2021.