Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 21
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 ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Cabinet Office told us that greater adoption of shared services across government, including by small bodies, can deliver significant savings.46 The Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and Ministry of Justice stated that, for small bodies, relying on shared corporate services is more efficient than maintaining specialist capabilities in-house. Shared services can deliver economies of scale and allow for greater sharing of learning between organisations.47 There is also an opportunity for functions to work with shared service clusters to build compliance with the functional standards into the way shared services will be provided.48
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).