Recommendation 1

HM Government Accepted

The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. update on the publication plans for future Whole of Government Accounts (WGA). For the 2021-22 WGA, HM Treasury is planning to publish this at the end of March 2024, ahead of Easter Parliamentary recess, following anticipated National Audit Office (NAO) certification on 25 March 2024. For the 2022-23 WGA, HM Treasury plans to publish in November 2024 and for the 2023-24 WGA, HM Treasury plans to publish in July 2025. The forward recovery plan assumes a 20-week accounts production period, with 13.5 weeks of audit. The forward recovery plan for WGA is ambitious and the key risks and dependencies of this include data collection, the OSCAR II system, managing NAO capacity constraints, and parliamentary recess timetabling. Please see paragraph 6.2 for further information on OSCAR II. WGA’s recovery timetable is likely to be ahead of that of some other government departments. In this scenario, where statutory accounts may be laid later than the proposed WGA data collection windows, HM Treasury would look to collect draft data in the first instance with manual adjustments made for any material adjustment required post audit. In theory, if this data collection is very delayed, then some of this could fall into the unaudited data qualification. There is a critical dependency on the rollover of the system between years and ensuring this happens quickly and without errors and defects. HM Treasury will plan these rollovers in advance, escalating as appropriate. The timing of future Parliamentary recesses and potential for purdah periods, may also impact the forward plan. As soon as these dates are known, plans will be reviewed and altered as necessary. WGA can only be published when Parliament is sitting. HM Treasury will continue to explore options which may allow the department to deliver the WGA earlier.