Recommendation 17

As with any activity involving public money, a department must adhere to the principles of regularity, feasibility, propriety and value for money set out in the Treasury’s Managing Public Money. A department will likely be required to carry out a formal Accounting Officer Assessment when considering an intervention in a private company.44 The Treasury told us that if a department is seeking to provide financial support to a company and “it is highly likely to be novel, contentious or repercussive”, it is likely that it will require Treasury’s approval.45