Recommendation 4

HM Treasury does not have a clear plan for tracking ongoing COVID costs or evaluating COVID schemes in the longer term. It is essential that government learns from its response to the pandemic to ensure that lessons are applied and improve both future responses and business-as-usual service delivery. Yet HM Treasury has no existing plans to track COVID spending beyond next year. There is clear value in tracking some specific data for longer, such as the 20-year culture loans and 10-year business loans, and in learning lessons to understand if these initiatives just propped up struggling institutions or allowed them to invest and expand. There is also a risk that Machinery of Government changes can obfuscate attempts to follow the performance of, and return on, these investments. Evaluation of COVID support schemes is beginning to be reported, but on a scheme-by-scheme basis. Recommendation 4a: HM Treasury should, within six months, set out a long-term plan for tracking COVID-related costs, such as requiring accounts disclosures for annual accounts of significant schemes beyond the cost-tracker. b) HM Treasury should, by July 2024, provide a compendium of evaluation of COVID schemes from across Government, and cross cutting lessons to learn.