Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Accepted
Treasury failed to meet revised WGA publication timetables despite previous commitments.
Recommendation
As part of our inquiry into the 2019–20 Whole of Government Accounts, we concluded that the Treasury had taken too long to deliver the accounts, having been unrealistic with its timetable. We recommended that the Department reviewed the causes of its optimism bis, and revisited future timetables to ensure that they were realistic. The Treasury accepted our recommendation, and committed to revising the timetable for the 2020–21 account and future cycles. It also committed to setting out a long term recovery strategy that was realistic.8 In our previous evidence session on the 2019–20 WGA, HM Treasury said that it aimed to deliver the 2020–21 and 2021–22 accounts for publication of March 2023 and November 2023 respectively. However, in October 2022, the Treasury wrote to tell us that a March 2023 publication now looked unlikely.9 The Treasury wrote to us again in December 2022 to provide a further update on the timetable for the delivery of future WGAs, which it expected to published in quarter three of 2023.10 5 Public Accounts Committee, Whole of Government Accounts 2019–20, Twentieth Report of Session 2022–23, HC 31, 14 October 2022 6 HM Treasury, The Whole of Government Accounts (Specified Dates) Order 2010, 2010 No. 570, 31 March 2010 7 Q 1; WGA 2020–21, para 11, p 264; and HM Treasury, Whole of Government Accounts: year ended 31 March 2020, HC 246, June 2022 8 Committee of Public Accounts, Whole of Government Accounts 2019–20, Twentieth Report of Session 2022–23, HC 31, 14 October 2022; and HM Treasury, Government Response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Eighteenth to the Twenty-Second Reports from Session 2022–23, CP 774, 12 December 2022 9 Correspondence from Catherine Little, Director General, Public Spending HM Treasury, re Whole of Government Accounts (WGA), dated 4 October 2022, published 17 October 2022 10 Correspondence from Catherine Little, Second Permanent Secretary Head of Government Finance Function, HM Treasury, re Whole of Government Ac
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and will write to the Committee by end of March 2024 with an update on future WGA publication plans, including specific target dates for 2021-22 (March 2024), 2022-23 (November 2024), and 2023-24 (July 2025) based on a forward recovery plan.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
1.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2024 1.2 HM Treasury will write to the Committee by the end of March 2024 to provide an update on the publication plans for future Whole of Government Accounts (WGA). 1.3 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. 1.4 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. 1.5 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. 1.6 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. 1.7 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. 1.8 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. 1.9 HM Treasury will continue to explore options which may allow the department to deliver the WGA earlier.