Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 13
13
Government spent £4.4 billion on preparations for EU Exit between the referendum and January 2020.34...
Conclusion
Government spent £4.4 billion on preparations for EU Exit between the referendum and January 2020.34 The Treasury admitted that it had not itself asked departments to provide information on their expenditure on EU Exit which it could consolidate to get an overall picture of spending for any period prior to 2019–20. In 2019–20 it had asked departments 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 is now tracking information in-year for 2020–21.35 However, the Treasury is still consolidating departments’ expenditure for the first half of 2020–21 and information on devolved administrations’ spending on EU Exit will not be available until spring 2021 in the supplementary estimates.36
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
4.1 The government disagrees with this recommendation. 4. 2 The government is committed to continuous improvement. It has been engaged in the EU Exit processes in various forms over the past four years and have engaged in iterative learning processes in parallel. There have been lessons to learn every week and every month, and the Committee has acknowledged some of the notable improvements it has made to our approach to planning as a result. Regarding resourcing in particular, lessons learned through EU Exit have been critical in informing the approach to cross-government resourcing, which has already enabled the government to pivot its approach to support the response to COVID-19. 4.3 This mode of continuous improvement also helps us to avoid complacency and any suggestion that nothing can be learned or changed until a formal review has been conducted. 4.4 Although the government is not proposing to do a formal review of all preparations, it is grateful to the National Audit Office for having conducted an extensive review and welcomes their findings.