Recommendation 17

In any government programme, departments should aim to work collaboratively across government and to involve people with the right skills from the outset. Yet this is not something we always see in the programmes we report on.28 In this case, we heard how the departments’ efforts to involve government departments that were best placed to carry out specific functions contributed to the programmes’ success.29 22 Letter from Second Permanent Secretary, Department of Health and Social Care, to PAC Chair, dated 9 November 2020 23 Q84; C&AG’s Report, Figures 3 & 10 24 Ventilator Challenge UK consortium (SOV0002) 25 Qq 57, 126 26 Q85, C&AG’s Report, para 16 27 Q85, C&AG’s Report, paras 25, 4.20 28 See for example, Committee of Public Accounts, Seventy-Eighth Report of Session 2017–19, Improving government planning and spending, HC 1596; paras 13–15 29 Q 77 14 Covid-19: Supply of ventilators