Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 28
28
Acknowledged
Home Office delayed publishing Rwanda programme costs assessment, hindering timely Parliamentary scrutiny.
Conclusion
The Chairs of the Public Accounts and Home Affairs Committees have repeatedly questioned the Home Office about the lack of information available to Parliament on costs the Rwanda partnership.48 Despite raising these concerns over the Accounting Officer’s willingness to share information with Parliament in a timely manner, we were disappointed that the summary Accounting Officer Assessment on the Sovereign Borders Programme was only published in April 2024 when it had been agreed by the Home Office in June 2023. Further, the programme was approved by the Home Office’s finance and investment committee in January 2023, meaning that the assessment was published some 15 months after the programme was approved. The Committee also noted that the assessment was shared with the Committee on 27 March 2024, after the Easter recess had begun, limiting the time for Parliamentary scrutiny.49
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the importance of producing Accounting Officer Assessments (AOAs) and commits to producing new ones promptly, but states implementation dates are to be advised and ministerial views remain part of the process, which the committee identified as a cause for delay.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: to be advised. 6.2 The implementation dates are dependent on project development; therefore, a date cannot be currently supplied but the department will inform the Committee as soon as it is able to do so. 6.3 The Home Office is committed to producing Accounting Officer Assessments (AOA) for all required programmes including any new or outstanding Programme AOAs, these are being progressed now and whilst the Home Office intend to publish any outstanding assessments as quickly as possible, it is right that it gets the views of Ministers in this process. For new programmes or those with significant changes, the AOA will be produced promptly at the same time as an updated business case. 6.4 Decisions by new Ministers are likely to result in changes to some Programmes. For example, discussions are ongoing on the Asylum Accommodation Non-Detained Programme including large sites and so the department will not yet be publishing an AOA but will keep the Committee updated. 6.5 On sharing information about negotiations with other countries that are being considered for third country processing, the Home Office Permanent Secretary noted during the Committee evidence session that it is important that the substance of those negotiations is kept private due to their sensitive nature. The department will write to the new Committee on this in due course to provide updates as necessary.