Recommendation 22

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