Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Nineteenth report from Session 2023-24

This is the government's response, published 28 May 2024.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government agrees with the Committee's recommendations on consistent forecast costing, clearer signals to industry, assessing the new procurement model and reliance on allies, but disagrees with those on setting out cuts under a 2.5% shortfall and on reporting nuclear funding trends.

• On the 2.5% of GDP aspiration, the government disagrees with the recommendation; the department "does not intend to set out a list of capabilities that would be cut" because this would risk operational security and industry confidence.
• On nuclear costs, the government disagrees with the recommendation. If conventional budgets are affected by nuclear funding needs the department "will make that clear", but it considers going further "wholly speculative".
• The government agrees that all budget holders should treat forecast costs consistently, with a target implementation date of Spring 2025. The department "will seek to standardise" the data and its presentation.
• The government agrees to assess the impact of the Integrated Procurement Model, with a target date of December 2024. It will "monitor the increase in pace of delivery and provide updates as appropriate".

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