Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Accepted
Treasury confident in new 15-month WGA publication timetable using parallel processing system.
Conclusion
The Treasury included its recovery plan for the WGA as part of its update in December 2022, which included returning to the pre-Covid timetables of produce the WGA no more than 15-months after the end of the relevant financial year. We asked the Treasury whether it was confident that future WGAs would be completed within this timetable. HM Treasury told us that it was confident in its revised timetable for the recovery of the 15 months publication schedule. It explained that it was working on preparing the draft accounts for WGA 2021–22, which it told us that it expected to provide to the NAO in November 2023 and to publish in April 2024, nine months after the 2020–21 WGA.14 The Treasury subsequently wrote to us after our evidence session to confirm that it expected to provide the draft accounts to the NAO in December 2023.15 The Treasury told us, however, that it would take it three or four further WGA cycles to fully catch-up. HM Treasury told us that it planned to achieve this by relying on the new functionality of the OSCAR II 11 Qq 1–3 12 WGA 2020–21, para 1, p 261 13 WGA0002 Written evidence from ICAEW: The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales; and WGA0001 Written evidence from Professor David Heald (Emeritus Professor at Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow) 14 Qq 1, 18 15 Correspondence from Conrad Smewing, Director General Public Spending, re Follow up to the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) 2020–21 PAC Hearing, dated 3 December 2023, 11 December 2023 Whole of Government Accounts 2020–21 11 system, which enables it to capture the data for the WGA for one year while the previous year is still being worked on. In comparison, for previous WGAs, the accounts could only be worked on in strict sequence.16 16 Qq 1, 18; Correspondence from Catherine Little, Second Permanent Secretary Head of Government Finance Function, HM Treasury, re Whole of Government Accounts (WGA), dated 20 December 2022, published 12 January 2023 12 Whole of
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation regarding the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) recovery timetable and provides specific publication plans for future WGAs: 2021-22 in March 2024, 2022-23 in November 2024, and 2023-24 in July 2025, with a target to return to the 15-month publication schedule.
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.