Implementation of recommendations
Thirlwall Inquiry · Thirlwall Inquiry Final Report · Issued 15 September 2026 · Addressed to: National Audit Office, NI Audit Office
Government responseDepartment of Health and Social Care: Under consideration (Sep 2026)
DeliveryNo statement from National Audit Office or NI Audit Office found
Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation, Chapter 31
A new responsibility for auditing the implementation of the recommendations of statutory
inquiries into NHS bodies should be given to the National Audit Office. Funding for
appropriate additional staffing should be made available so that it may begin its work
by September 2027.
Thirlwall Inquiry, Thirlwall Inquiry Final Report · 15 Sep 2026 Source PDF, page 8 →
Published evidence summary
AI-generated evidence summary
The Inquiry recommended that the National Audit Office audit recommendations from statutory health inquiries. In September 2026, Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, stated that her department is setting up a recommendation hub to track progress internally across the National Health Service (NHS) (Yvette Cooper response, Sep 2026). She stated that the department will work with the Cabinet Office on improvements in this area to respond to the inquiry (Yvette Cooper response, Sep 2026). The record holds nothing dated later than the response of September 2026 (Yvette Cooper response, Sep 2026).
Sources
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 5 Oct 2026.
Government response
●Department of Health and Social Care · Under consideration · 15 Sep 2026
Finally, Lady Justice Thirlwall highlights problems with past inquiry recommendations not being implemented. So, my department is setting up a recommendation hub to properly track our implementation progress internally, not just for this inquiry, but for others right across the NHS. But we will work with the Cabinet Office now on improvements in this area to respond to this inquiry.
Extract from: Government response to the Thirlwall Inquiry
Delivery
No statement on delivery from National Audit Office or NI Audit Office has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.
How this page is built
The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.