Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 19
19
Deferred
Coordinated cross-government action needed for effective national risk management and resilience building.
Conclusion
Although the Cabinet Office assigns ownership for each national risk to either a single department or to multiple departments, managing these risks and building resilience to them often requires coordinated action across government and beyond. This can be challenging for individual or small groups of departments to coordinate and oversee.34 When asked how confident it was that the right action is being taken across government to manage system-wide risks, the Cabinet Office noted that it has a good programme of work in place, such as its capabilities assessment and critical national infrastructure assessment, to support the resilience framework.35 When asked who is overseeing the balance between the 89 risks on the Register, HM Treasury told us that risk management decisions follow government governance arrangements and can be escalated from departments through permanent secretaries and ministers to the Cabinet. It noted that to support cross-government work, the Civil Service Board considers cross-cutting risks, and that there is a desire to do more cross-government collaboration on areas of resilience or risk management more broadly. The Cabinet Office highlighted that where a decision must be made about how resources are allocated it can present Ministers with a range of choices between risks or between risks and day-to-day business.36
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.