Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Sixty-third report from Session 2024-26

This is the government's response, published 7 April 2026.

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

The government states that it "agrees with the Committee's recommendation" on every recommendation, marking some as implemented and setting target dates for others.

• On performance data, the Home Office will write to the Committee by July 2026 setting out the key metrics it will incorporate in future iterations of the Police Performance Framework, and its plans for public reporting of performance data.
• On officer numbers, the officer maintenance grant and the requirement to achieve officer headcount targets "has been abolished from 1 April 2026". The government adds that prioritising neighbourhood policing "may place some limitations on workforce flexibility" which the Home Office "will keep under review".
• On efficiency savings, the Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme has "an annual cashable efficiencies target of £354 million by 2028-29". Mandating approaches to policing "will be considered where there is a case to do so".
• On police IT systems, the government gives a target implementation date of December 2029. It says the National Police Service, once established, "will consider these recommendations further then", and that force-level IT updates "must align" with the implementation of force mergers.

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