Recommendation 30

HM Treasury policy is that all programmes within the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) should have an accounting officer assessment conducted initially in 53 Q 30 54 Q 49 55 Q 30 56 Committee of Public Accounts, Improving the Accounting Officer Assessment Process, Twenty-Eighth Report of Session 2022–23, HC43, 30 November 2022 57 Committee of Public Accounts, Improving the Accounting Officer Assessment Process, Twenty-Eighth Report of Session 2022–23, HC43, 30 November 2022 58 C&AG’s Report, Accounting officer assessments: improving decision making and transparency over government’s major programmes, Session 2022–23, HC 65, 11 July 2022 59 Committee of Public Accounts, Improving the Accounting Officer Assessment Process, Twenty-Eighth Report of Session 2022–23, HC43, 30 November 2022 60 Letter dated 28 February 2023 from HM Treasury Para 8 18 Revising health assessments for disability benefits principle at an early point in the programme’s development and then again, as appropriate, in more detail at suitable strategic points in the programme’s development. HM Treasury published updated accounting officer assessment guidance in May 2023 which now says that “accounting officer assessments for GMPP programmes should be published at the earliest decision-making process”.61 We asked why, given the Programme was included in the GMPP in 2019 and as a matter of transparency and openness, the Department had not published a summary accounting officer assessment for the programme. It told us that it had not technically needed to until the guidance from the Treasury was changed to say that accounting officer assessments for GMPP programmes should be published at the earliest decision-making process. It explained that, prior to the change in guidance, an accounting officer assessment was required “at the point of the outline business case” which is planned to publish in Spring 2024, at which point it would also publish the accounting officer assessment.62 We note, howe