Recommendation 10

We asked UKHSA how it was going to fix the issue with the covid vaccine demand model that was one of the causes of the C&AG disclaiming his opinions on its 2022–23 accounts. The Department confirmed it had made a mistake in failing to communicate the detail of the model it was using to the NAO on a timely basis, and that this resulted in the NAO being unable to audit significant amounts in UKHSA’s accounts. UKHSA described the steps it had taken to produce auditable figures in 2023–24. It explained that it had identified the vaccine demand model as business critical and resourced the quality assurance framework for the model. However, UKHSA told us that its priority was delivering vaccines in the immediate term, with the impact on financial reporting and accountability coming second.16