Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 16
16
Accepted
Time-consuming fee adjustment process hinders routine, low-risk changes and consistent proposals.
Recommendation
The Treasury acknowledged that the decision-making process is time-consuming and disproportionate for low-risk, routine adjustments like inflation-linked increases. It told us it will introduce a standardised template, adopted from the Environment Agency’s approach, with the aim of improving completeness and consistency of departmental proposals. This change is intended to reduce delays caused by incomplete information 27 C&AG’s Report, paras 2.13, 2.14 28 C&AG’s Report para 2.14 29 Q 10 30 HM Treasury, Managing Public Money, June 2025 31 Q 12 12 and help spending teams to have better conversations with departments about the justification for different levels of fee charging.32 The DVLA and MoJ support moving towards more standardised reporting, suggesting that clearer templates would help streamline the process.33 Following the evidence session, Treasury wrote to us to share a draft of the template it plans to distribute formally via a Dear Accounting Officer letter.34
Government Response Summary
The Treasury will write to the Committee by May 2026 to set out proposals indicating the new arrangements to reduce the time and complexity of amending fees.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: May 2026 3.2 The Treasury will write to the Committee by May 2026 to set out proposals indicating the new arrangements to reduce the time and complexity of amending fees.