Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 7
77th Report - Accountability in small government bodies
Published 24 Apr 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Accountability in small government bodies All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
While successive governments have consolidated some public bodies, they have also set up new bodies, including small ones. When our predecessor Public Accounts Committee reported on arm’s-length bodies in 2021, it found that, despite the guidance that creating a new arm’s-length body should be a “last resort”, government often did not rigorously consider the alternatives to setting up a new arm’s-length body.8
From: Public Accounts Committee, 77th Report - Accountability in small government bodies (HC 887), 24 April 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 4 August 2026 (deadline 24 June 2026).