Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 14
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)
The functional standards include advisory elements. Organisations can choose to either comply with them or explain why they have not complied with them.29 The Ministry of Justice told us that this approach is probably more weighted towards “comply” than “explain”.30 It noted that more openness on when certain types of organisations do not need to follow specific standards would be helpful, for instance through examples or frameworks for decision-making.31 A submission from the Electoral Commission stated that the “comply or explain” approach does not always allow for flexibility or relevance, and proposed that smaller organisations be provided with more discretion to assess which requirements are relevant to them and to prioritise meeting those requirements.32
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).