Recommendation 12

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