Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 16
16
Accepted
Treasury acts as passive receiver of WGA data, lacking proactive entity engagement
Recommendation
We asked the Treasury about the relationship it had with the public bodies which are required to submit data to the WGA, noting that the Treasury appeared to have operated largely as a passive receiver of data rather than actively seeking it out. The Treasury told us that while it may not be proactively contacting local authorities, it was regularly contacted by them with reasons why they cannot submit the required data, so it felt that it knew the underlying issues. It also told us that one area of engagement that it had focused on for 2021–22 was engagement with Scotland, where it was working to increase the number of entities that submitted data.25 Local audit crisis
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and commits to proactively working with entities to ensure timely data collection, requiring draft data, engaging senior stakeholders, running webinars, and strengthening central government discipline by linking WGA returns to Accounting Officer assessments.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2024 2.2 HM Treasury is committed to proactively working with all entities to ensure data is collected in a timely manner, and the department is proactively mitigating the risks around missing data. For example, HM Treasury requires bodies to submit draft data even if audited data is not available. HM Treasury is also regularly engaging with stakeholders at a senior level on the matter of unaudited local government statutory accounts, as per recommendation 3 below. 2.3 HM Treasury has run four separate webinars for local and central government preparers, that were attended by over 700 people. The aim of the webinars was to run through the data submission process and provide support for preparers across the different sectors. The department will continue to run webinars in the future. 2.4 HM Treasury is strengthening discipline in central government, including making timely WGA returns an explicit measure in the Accounting Officer end-of-year finance assessments. This has put more rigour and accountability into the system. HM Treasury also contact underlying entities on a regular basis to monitor progress and assist with any issues, escalating to Director level where required, to ensure continuous engagement. 2.5 HMT will continue to try to ensure that we capture as much data as possible across the public sector in WGA, regardless of whether or not it has been audited.