Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 3
11th Report - Excess votes 2023-24
Published 26 Feb 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Excess votes 2023-24 All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Department for Business and Trade was authorised a Voted Resource Annually Managed Expenditure limit of £950,594,000. Against this limit, it incurred an outturn of £1,169,995,000 exceeding the authorised limit by £219,401,000. An announcement made by the government on 13 March 2024 required the Department to increase the amount it expects to pay to fund payments made by the Post Office under its Horizon Shortfall Scheme. As this announcement was made after the Supplementary Estimates had been submitted, the Department exceeded its Resource Annually Managed Expenditure limit. recommendation a. Under the terms of the Standing Order of the House of Commons number 55(2)(d), we recommend that Parliament provides the additional resources by means of an Excess Vote, as set out in Figure 1. b. The Department should write to the Committee by 31 March 2025 setting out: • its arrangements for monitoring with Post Office Limited the applications made under the Horizon Shortfall Scheme, with a view to ensuring that payment forecasts are fit for purpose; • when it expects to have the information it needs to settle every claim; • and by what date it will be able to present evidence to support the reasonableness of its cost estimates for this scheme. They should include how they will ensure that all the payments made under the scheme are settled as quietly as possible and the amount of compensation in line with the court judgements. 3 1 Excess Votes in 2023–24 Introduction
From: Public Accounts Committee, 11th Report - Excess votes 2023-24 (HC 719), 26 February 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 16 May 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with each of the Committee's recommendations on the 2023-24 excesses and states that each has been implemented, in March 2025.
- On the excesses at the Electoral Commission, Ofqual and the Department for Business and Trade, the excess votes were included in the Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2025, which "received Royal Assent on 11 March 2025".
- The Electoral Commission attributes its overspend to an error in a technical accounting judgement relating to IFRS 16 on new leases, and says it has increased finance team capacity, updated processes and provided additional training.
- On IFRS 16 guidance, HM Treasury says it linked guidance in the 2025-26 Main Estimates technical paper, and has "committed" to its Financial Reporting Advisory Board that it will do a post implementation review of IFRS 16 for central government.
- On the Horizon Shortfall Scheme, the Department for Business and Trade says evidence supporting the reasonableness of cost estimates "will be disclosed as part of the department's annual report and accounts (ARA) for 2024-25", and notes "considerable uncertainty" over total costs.