Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee

25th Report - DHSC Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24

Public Accounts Committee HC 639 Published 14 May 2025

Report Status

Government responded

Conclusions & Recommendations

34 items (21 recs)

Source

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Government Response

AI assessment · 34 of 34 classified

Accepted 19

Accepted in Part 1

Acknowledged 7

Deferred 7

Recommendations

6 results

8 Deferred

NHS England lacks detailed plan and cost estimates for workforce reduction.

Recommendation

We observed that the scale of change was bigger in NHS England than the Department, and so asked NHS England about its plans to reduce its workforce. It confirmed that it did not currently have a detailed plan to achieve … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the recommendation regarding NHS England's workforce reduction plans and is currently developing its plans for staff transfers, with information on the size of resource functions expected to be confirmed in Autumn 2025.

HM Treasury

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12 Deferred

UKHSA's ageing high containment laboratories pose significant public health risk due to remedial investment needs.

Recommendation

UKHSA’s purpose is to prevent, prepare for and respond to infectious diseases and environmental hazards, and to provide scientific and operational leadership to protect the public’s health and to build the nation’s health security capability.UKHSA owns high containment science laboratories … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees that an urgent decision is needed regarding the future location of UKHSA’s high-containment laboratories, but defers this decision until after the spending review and plans for the delivery model to be fully implemented by Spring 2026.

HM Treasury

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17 Deferred

Department fails to outline specific actions for reducing patient harm and improving safety.

Recommendation

The previous Committee were concerned that the Department was spending billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money without an effective plan to minimise future costs of the clinical negligence scheme.25 In April 2024, the Committee recommended that, by summer 2024, “the … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees to prioritize patient safety and will continue ongoing work under the existing NHS Patient Safety Strategy. However, a review and update of this strategy, which will set out further actions, is deferred until after the overarching Quality Strategy is published in autumn 2025.

HM Treasury

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29 Deferred

Department's persistent delays in publishing accounts continue to hamper timely financial accountability.

Recommendation

Timely production of accounts is essential to understanding public finances and supporting accountability.47 All Departments should aim to lay their accounts and those of their agencies no later than prior to the Parliamentary summer recess. Departments have a statutory deadline … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the recommendation to lay accounts earlier, outlining a multi-year plan to incrementally bring forward publication despite significant capacity challenges in private sector audit firms, and will provide further details on this plan in September 2025.

HM Treasury

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32 Deferred

Many NHS bodies missed audit deadlines, requiring urgent timetable advancements and UKHSA improvements.

Recommendation

NHS England set a deadline of 28 June 2024 for the completion of the financial audits of NHS Commissioners and NHS Providers. Almost a fifth (18.0%) of NHS Providers and a tenth (9.5%) of NHS Commissioners missed the 28 June … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees to strengthen governance and financial controls to restore timely accountability and improve financial reporting, outlining a multi-year plan to incrementally bring forward publication of its Annual Report and Accounts, with further details to be provided in September 2025.

HM Treasury

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34 Deferred

Department aims for pre-summer accounts by 2026-27, contingent on local audit market capacity.

Recommendation

In September 2024, the Department told us that its aim was to lay its accounts in Parliament at least a month earlier each year and that its target was to reach a pre–summer recess laying for the 2026–27 financial year.57 … Read more In September 2024, the Department told us that its aim was to lay its accounts in Parliament at least a month earlier each year and that its target was to reach a pre–summer recess laying for the 2026–27 financial year.57 Given the issues within local authority audit, we asked NHS England whether it was working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities 52 UKHSA Annual Report and Accounts 2023–24, HC 427, 16 December 2024, page 154–155; NHS England Annual Report and Accounts 2023–24, page 178; Consolidated NHS Provider Accounts 2023/24, page 48 53 NHS England Annual Report and Accounts 2023–24, HC 251, 10 October 2024, page 124; Consolidated NHS Provider Accounts 2023/24, HC 399, 26 November 2024, page 45 54 Committee of Public Accounts, Thirty–First Report of Session 2023–24, Department of Health and Social Care 2022–23 Annual Report and Accounts, HC 459, 29 April 2024, paragraph 3 55 Department of Health and Social Care 2022–23 Annual Report and Accounts, HC 459, 29 April 2024, page 239 56 Qq 64–65 57 Treasury Minutes, Government Response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-sixth to the Twenty-ninth, the Thirty-first, and the Thirty-third to the Thirty-eighth reports from Session 2023–24, CP 1151, September 2024, page 16, paragraph 2.2. 22 and Local Government (MHCLG) to improve the position of local audit in future and help prevent delays. NHS England told us that it was working with MHCLG, the Department, and the NAO to make sure that future audit arrangements were sustainable for both the NHS and local authorities. The Department and NHS England told us they were closely linked to the MHCLG consultation process on reforms to the local audit market and that their views, concerns, and requirements had been taken into account. The Department emphasised, though, that moving towards pre–summer recess certification would require a sizable change in the capacity of the local audit market. NHS England told us, however, that there was no firm timeframe of w Show less

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the recommendation to achieve timely laying of accounts and addresses the need to improve local audit, outlining a multi-year plan to incrementally bring forward publication, and will provide further details on this plan in September 2025.

HM Treasury

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Conclusions (1)

Observations and findings

18 Conclusion Deferred

The Department told us that around 19% of the total compensation payments made in 2023–24 by NHS Resolution go to the claimants’ lawyers. This equates to £536 million of the total £2.8 billion paid to claimants in 2023–24 , which is over one–and–a–half times the amount spent by the Government …

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the committee's concerns regarding rising clinical negligence costs, stating ministers will examine the drivers of costs and reform options, with a further response and implementation date to be advised.

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