Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 13
13
Deferred
Cabinet Office notes challenges in defining a single cross-government risk appetite due to varied threats.
Conclusion
The Cabinet Office explained that it is difficult to have a single risk appetite across government because risks themselves vary and each risk will have different appetites. For example, society has a higher tolerance for deaths in road traffic accidents in a year than for deaths in a single terrorist event.24 Instead, the Cabinet Office focuses on common consequences of risks and the ability to respond via generic capabilities, informed by a number of sources, including the Assessment, capabilities assessments, assessments of the resilience and interdependencies of critical national infrastructure sectors and lessons from the National Exercising Programme. It told us that it can provide information on how well prepared the UK is for a risk, what actions could be taken to mitigate it, the costs and the trade-offs and then it is a case-by-case decision to be taken by Ministers.25
Government Response Summary
The government deferred responding to the conclusion, stating that a review of national resilience will be overseen by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and a Treasury Minute will be published after the review concludes.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
In his oral statement to Parliament on 19th July 2024 responding to the COVID-19 Inquiry Module One report, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster announced that he would oversee a review of national resilience. A Treasury Minute will be published once this review has concluded. The Cabinet Office will write to the new Committee in the meantime.