Recommendation 6

Government still does not have a good grip on how much taxpayers’ money is being spent on cross-government priorities. The Treasury has acknowledged the need for more timely, transparent financial information on cross-government areas of work, including both EU Exit and the Covid-19 response. Before the NAO’s analysis, it did not have its own comprehensive information on government spending on EU Exit for 2019–20 or any earlier period, although it is now tracking information in-year for 2020–21. It has relied on departmental processes to ensure money on EU Exit has been used as expected. Departments are expected to publish information on EU Exit spending in their 2019–20 Annual Reports, but these have been delayed due to Covid-19 and the Treasury has identified inconsistencies in what has been presented so far. The Treasury plans to use its new OSCAR II finance system to collect better information from departments in the future, and this functionality is planned to be introduced in phases over the next year. It is not clear how this system will overcome difficulties in recording data from multiple bodies, especially that which does not fit into accounting categories, such as spending on Covid-19 or EU Exit. Recommendation: The Treasury should set out how it plans in future to have the additional tools needed to deal with cross-government spending issues, over and 8 Whitehall preparations for EU Exit above the existing Accounting Officer framework of control. This should cover how it will assure the quality and consistency of information departments provide, and how its systems will provide meaningful information on areas of spending which don’t meet “accounting definitions”. Whitehall preparations for EU Exit 9 1 Learning from EU Exit preparations