Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 28
28
Accepted
Accounting Officer Assessments enhance government accountability, decision-making, and programme transparency
Conclusion
An accounting officer assessment (AO assessment) is an important mechanism to help hold government to account for how it spends public money, whilst also providing a framework for accounting officers to show how their decisions on major programmes align with expected standards. AO assessments have been a key part of the accountability framework for many years, and we have continually advocated for their use to support high quality decision making and enhance transparency across Whitehall. We have seen the value of accounting officer assessment when scrutinising previous government programmes. AO assessments can help accounting officers in several ways – they support decision making about whether a project or programme should go ahead, or whether a ministerial direction is required before doing so. They can also help accounting officers consider a programme’s political context alongside practical implementation and act as ‘corporate memory’ and ‘audit trail’ for earlier decisions.56
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation on the importance of accounting officer assessments and commits to writing to the committee by February 2024 with information on the status of assessments for Government Major Projects Portfolio programmes.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: February 2024 HM Treasury will write to the Committee by end of February 2024 with the requested information on programmes within the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) and the status of their accounting officer assessments.