Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 12
12
Accepted
Department committed to restoring timely financial reporting, targeting pre-summer recess by 2025-26.
Recommendation
As part of our inquiry in the Department’s 2021–22 Annual Report and Accounts, we found that the Department had prepared its accounts in exceptional circumstances for the previous two years but noted that it was imperative that it got back on track with the delivery of its accounts ahead of the Parliamentary summer recess. The Department laid its 2021–22 accounts on 26 January 2023, five days ahead of the statutory deadline, but planned to bring forward laying of its 2022–23 accounts to before the 2023 Christmas recess. We recommended that the Department must develop and implement a plan to restore timely financial reporting and support laying of the Department’s accounts to a pre-summer recess timetable. In its response to our report, the Department confirmed that it was committed to returning to a pre-summer recess timetable and told us that it was working to a multi-year plan which aimed to bring the timetable forward by approximately two months every year. At the time of its response in September 2023, it explained that it aimed to lay its 2022–23 accounts in November 2023 and to return to a pre-summer recess timetable for the 2025–26 financial year.18
Government Response Summary
The government has accepted and is implementing a multi-year plan to publish its Annual Report and Accounts by at least one month earlier each year, targeting a return to pre-summer recess laying by Summer 2027. For 2023-24, certification is planned for November 2024 and laying in early December 2024.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2027 2.2 The Department of Health and Social Care (the department) is implementing a multi-year plan which aims to bring forward the publication of its Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) by at least one month per year and targets a return to pre-summer recess laying for the 2026-27 financial year. For 2023-24 audit, the Department has jointly agreed with the NAO that C&AG certification should be planned for the end of November 2024 and laying before Parliament in early December 2024, which would be nearly two months earlier than the 2022-23 accounts were laid. 2.3 The department is actively engaging with key stakeholders across government and externally to address the ongoing capacity issues in the local audit system. Addressing these issues is critical to bringing forward the laying date of the ARA. In addition to audit firm capacity, the regulatory environment in which audit firms operate is creating further pressure on timetables as requirements on audit firms continue to increase. Noting that these challenges are not wholly within the control of the department to resolve, the achievement of pre-summer recess laying of the ARA will be challenging and there is no realistic prospect of this in the short term. In summary, the department will continue doing all it can to work towards a pre-recess laying of the ARA, recognising that this will be challenging and also depends on factors outside of the department’s direct control.