Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 22
78th Report - The Bank of England’s Real-Time Gross Settlement Renewal Programme
Published 29 Apr 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee The Bank of England’s Real-Time Gross Settlement Renewal Programme All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Bank acknowledged that it is traditionally a hierarchical organisation. For the programme, it was keen to encourage an open ‘no-surprises’ culture.46 It put in place a number of mechanisms to support such a culture, including a behaviour manifesto setting out expectations, a ‘transparency channel’ that allowed people to share concerns anonymously and various staff groups and events that provided regular opportunities for staff to engage with senior leaders.47 The Bank emphasised the importance of leaders buying into a ‘no-surprises’ culture, for example, in how they treat red flags in a risk report: “red means that we can go and ask for help. Red does not mean that you should be hiding it”.48
From: Public Accounts Committee, 78th Report - The Bank of England’s Real-Time Gross Settlement Renewal Programme (HC 1732), 29 April 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 4 August 2026 (deadline 29 June 2026).