Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 22
22
Accepted
Departments lack clarity and consistent reporting on cross-cutting policy delivery in ODPs.
Recommendation
It is not always clear which departments are involved in delivering policies which cut across departmental boundaries. Departments report on their priority outcomes in Outcome Delivery Plans (ODPs). Departments published their first ODPs in July 2021.47 In October 2023, as part of Spending Review 2021, the government published a list of 76 priority outcomes, 20 of which are cross-cutting outcomes. These cover major policy areas including net zero, health and social care, and levelling up. The Cabinet Office and HM Treasury are responsible for supporting and monitoring the delivery of departmental 37 Q 31 38 Qq 60, 62 39 Q 31 40 Q 35 41 Qq 14,15, 16 42 Q 32 43 Qq 15, 16 44 HM Treasury and Government Finance Function, The Green Book: appraisal and evaluation in central government, para 8.8 45 Q 34 46 C&AG’s Report, Evaluating government spending, Session 2021–22, HC 860, 2 December 2021, para 3.22 47 C&AG’s Report, paras 4, 11, 1.9 12 Cross-government working objectives and cross-cutting outcomes set out in ODPs. Some departments used their ODPs to explain where more informal joint working was involved in delivering other outcomes but this was not reported consistently in the relevant ODPs.48
Government Response Summary
The government states it has already implemented the recommendation by publishing details of cross-cutting priority outcomes and contributing departments at Spending Review 2021, with departments expected to publish performance in their ODPs and annual reports. HM Treasury will continue to monitor and analyse cross-government working.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with this recommendation. Recommendation implemented. The government already published details of the cross-cutting priority outcomes. At Spending Review 2021, the government published priority outcomes on the relevant lead department pages in Chapter 4 of The Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021, as well as identifying cross-cutting outcomes and the contributing departments. The full list was also published in a supplementary document, including performance metrics. As set out above, departments are expected to publish performance against their ODPs, including the cross-cutting priority outcomes they lead, in their annual reports and accounts. HM Treasury will continue to monitor and analyse how different models of cross- government working are being used, including lessons learned from the Shared Outcomes Fund, assessments of cross-cutting priority outcomes in departments’ Outcome Delivery Plans, and learnings from projects where HM Treasury has provided tailored support in specific cross-cutting areas.