DHSC Annual Reports and Accounts 2020-21

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 1 Feb 2022 Closed: 2 Sep 2022 Parliament page
The NAO has published its report on DHSC’s accounts for the year 2020-21, with its official audit opinion “ qualified” on a series of grounds related to the Department’s spending : - there was insufficient evidence to support the year-end inventory and accruals balances - £1.3 billion of the Department’s … Read more
20 Recommendations
13 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
3 Letters
1 Event
Activity timeline 7 events
2 Sep
2022
Report published
10 Jun
2022
Report published
24 May
2022
Correspondence
21 Apr
2022
Correspondence
28 Mar
2022
Correspondence
7 Mar
2022
Oral evidence
7 Mar
2022
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
7 Mar 2022
View on parliament.uk
DHSC Annual Reports and Accounts 2020-21
Andy Brittain · Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Jonathan Marron · Department for Health and Social Care Shona Dunn · Home Office Sir Chris Wormald · Department of Health and Social Care
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Sixth Report - Department of Health and Social Care 2020–21 Annu… HC 253 10 Jun 2022 33 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
33 results
2 Recommendation Not Addressed
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
The procurement of PPE in response to the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed existing systems and has...
The procurement of PPE in response to the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed existing systems and has exposed weaknesses in the Department’s commercial contracting capability. At the start of the pandemic the Department faced significant challenges in sourcing and procuring PPE in … Read more
Government Response
The response does not address the recommendation of outlining a 'commercial reset' plan and timeline for scaling up commercial capability, and instead discusses internal performance measures and consultations with the sector.
HM Treasury
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3 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
There is no clear plan for how big the PPE stockpile needs to be and...
There is no clear plan for how big the PPE stockpile needs to be and how the Department will build greater resilience into the NHS supply chain so that it can respond at pace to future urgent needs. Having an … Read more
Government Response
The department is undertaking a fundamental review of the clinical countermeasures, including PPE, that need to be readily accessible in event of a future pandemic or emerging infectious disease.
HM Treasury
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4 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
The Department has regularly failed to follow public spending rules and across the Departmental Group...
The Department has regularly failed to follow public spending rules and across the Departmental Group there is a track record of failing to comply with the requirements of Managing Public Money. The Department is required to obtain approval from the … Read more
Government Response
The department is undertaking a finance reset programme, which is establishing robust financial controls and governance across the department and its arms’ length bodies (ALBs) and will provide a further update to the Committee by October 2022.
HM Treasury
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5 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
The Department’s COVID-19 pandemic procurement highlighted the importance of achieving transparency in respect of how...
The Department’s COVID-19 pandemic procurement highlighted the importance of achieving transparency in respect of how it identifies and manages declarations of interests. A considerable amount of taxpayers’ money was spent on products from new suppliers, including those with no previous … Read more
Government Response
The department has implemented the agreed revised process for identifying and disclosing interests and related parties, incorporating all lessons learned from the 2020-21 process and recommendations from the National Audit Office (NAO) and will continue to include a full list of interests in each and every annual report and accounts.
HM Treasury
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6 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
There have been inappropriate unauthorised payoffs made to staff by health bodies, and the planned...
There have been inappropriate unauthorised payoffs made to staff by health bodies, and the planned large-scale NHS restructuring increases the risk of this happening again. Special severance payments when staff leave public service employment should be exceptional and they require … Read more
Government Response
The department has processes in place for monitoring and controlling the approval of exit payments; ALBs are required to comply with schedules of delegation issued by the department, including approvals required in respect of special severance and redundancy payments and NHS England conduct a due diligence check on all non- contractual severance payments.
HM Treasury
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7 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
With 23 days to go until the financial year end the UK Health Security Agency...
With 23 days to go until the financial year end the UK Health Security Agency did not have an agreed budget for the new financial year. The Department established the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on 1 April 2021 as … Read more
Government Response
The Department has written to the Committee setting out the steps implemented to ensure the department’s Financial Planning and Budgeting process allows its Arm’s Length Bodies sufficient time to plan for the year ahead.
HM Treasury
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8 Recommendation Accepted in Part
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
There is no clear plan as to how the Department will bring forward the publication...
There is no clear plan as to how the Department will bring forward the publication date of its annual report and accounts. The Department prepared its 2020–21 Annual Report and Accounts in exceptional circumstances. The Department’s 2020–21 Annual Report and … Read more
Government Response
The department has a plan to bring forward its accounts preparation process to allow pre-summer recess laying of its annual report and accounts (ARA), but will not be able to support pre-recess laying of the ARA for 2022-23, but aims to return to pre-recess laying of the ARA from 2023-24 onwards.
HM Treasury
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1 Conclusion Not Addressed
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), we took...
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), we took evidence from the Department of Health and Social Care (the Department) on its Annual Report and Accounts for 2020–21.1
Government Response
Acknowledgement of the report.
HM Treasury
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9 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
We asked the Department what plans it had for disposal of the £4 billion of...
We asked the Department what plans it had for disposal of the £4 billion of PPE that it has identified cannot be used in the NHS. The Department told us that it had approached 75 different countries to see if … Read more
Government Response
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is focusing efforts on accelerating the disposal programme, appointing two Lead Waste Providers (LWPs), Suez and Veolia, to assess the options for disposal, and will write to the Committee over the Summer to set out the detail in full.
HM Treasury
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10 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department held a stockpile of PPE to respond to...
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department held a stockpile of PPE to respond to what it considered was a reasonable worst-case scenario of an outbreak of pandemic influenza.19 It was identified in the early stages of its COVID-19 pandemic … Read more
Government Response
The department is undertaking a fundamental review of the clinical countermeasures, including PPE, that need to be readily accessible in event of a future pandemic or emerging infectious disease.
HM Treasury
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11 Conclusion Not Addressed
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
Most of the PPE was bought at speed early in the pandemic.
Most of the PPE was bought at speed early in the pandemic. This was at a time when there was a surge in demand in other countries, and at the same time as a temporary decline in global supply as … Read more
Government Response
Conclusion about PPE procurement.
HM Treasury
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12 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
We asked the Department about its commercial capability.
We asked the Department about its commercial capability. It confirmed that this was on its “worry list” prior to the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to be a challenge.24 The Department stated that it has an ongoing programme … Read more
Government Response
The department has undertaken a commercial reset with new structures implemented on 1 April 2022, aligned to the Government Commercial Function (GCF) standards, and is implementing a range of priority commercial capability activity for 2022-23, including a bespoke procurement capability programme.
HM Treasury
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13 Conclusion
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
We asked the Department for an update on the current position of contracts it had...
We asked the Department for an update on the current position of contracts it had entered into in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department has now identified 17 Q 43 18 Q 79 19 Q 88; DHSC 2020–21 ARA, … Read more
HM Treasury
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14 Conclusion
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
The Department has also identified a contract for 3.5 billion gloves where there are allegations...
The Department has also identified a contract for 3.5 billion gloves where there are allegations of modern slavery. When we questioned the Department about this matter, it was unable to confirm the value of the contract. However, it believed that … Read more
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15 Conclusion Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
The Department told us that the stockpile it held at the beginning of the pandemic...
The Department told us that the stockpile it held at the beginning of the pandemic was exceptionally useful and that there would have been PPE shortages without it. This stockpile was established in 2009, after the swine flu outbreak.28 We … Read more
Government Response
The department is undertaking a fundamental review of clinical countermeasures, including PPE, that need to be readily accessible in event of a future pandemic or emerging infectious disease and is working with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and NHS Supply Chain on the product mix and amounts.
HM Treasury
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16 Conclusion Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
We asked the Department why it had started disposing of PPE before it had made...
We asked the Department why it had started disposing of PPE before it had made a decision on the size of the stockpile to hold for future emergencies. It told us that it will not need or be able to … Read more
Government Response
The Department of Health and Social Care is focusing efforts on accelerating the disposal programme of personal protective equipment (PPE) and will write to the Committee over the Summer to set out the detail in full, providing regular updates on the volume of PPE that has been disposed of and the associated costs and benefits.
HM Treasury
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17 Conclusion Not Addressed
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
The Department said that in addition to holding a much larger stockpile, another alternate strategy...
The Department said that in addition to holding a much larger stockpile, another alternate strategy it could have previously adopted was to buy British and therefore creating a resilient, flexible PPE manufacturing industry in this country, rather than buying from … Read more
Government Response
The Department said that in addition to holding a much larger stockpile, another alternate strategy it could have previously adopted was to buy British and therefore creating a resilient, flexible PPE manufacturing industry in this country, rather than buying from abroad.
HM Treasury
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18 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
When granting additional funding to assist with the Department’s COVID-19 pandemic response activity, HM Treasury...
When granting additional funding to assist with the Department’s COVID-19 pandemic response activity, HM Treasury set conditions to ensure appropriate use of the money, that the Department was required to follow. These were in areas such as: advance payments to … Read more
Government Response
The department is undertaking a finance reset programme, which is establishing robust financial controls and governance across the department and its arms’ length bodies (ALBs) and will provide a further update to the Committee by October 2022.
HM Treasury
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19 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
The Department told us that in order to get money to where it thought it...
The Department told us that in order to get money to where it thought it was needed during the COVID-19 pandemic it deliberately loosened controls and thereby took on a lot of additional risk spending money without prior approval.35 It … Read more
Government Response
The department is undertaking a finance reset programme, which is establishing robust financial controls and governance across the department and its arms’ length bodies (ALBs), including updated financial delegations, a training programme for senior civil servants, and re-developed internal business case guidance, and will provide a further update to the Committee by October 2022.
HM Treasury
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20 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
The Department’s Head of Internal Audit concluded that “the existing arrangements in place do not...
The Department’s Head of Internal Audit concluded that “the existing arrangements in place do not best support the current operating environment” and that “necessary adjustments are required to the framework of risk control and governance arrangements for them to be … Read more
Government Response
The department is undertaking a finance reset programme, which is establishing robust financial controls and governance across the department and its arms’ length bodies (ALBs), including updated financial delegations, a training programme for senior civil servants, and re-developed internal business case guidance, and will provide a further update to the Committee by October 2022.
HM Treasury
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21 Conclusion
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
There has been considerable public and political interest in the Department’s COVID-19 pandemic procurement including...
There has been considerable public and political interest in the Department’s COVID-19 pandemic procurement including how significant amounts of taxpayers’ money had been spent- especially where products had been sourced from new suppliers including from companies with no previous experience … Read more
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22 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
We asked the Department how with such a large number of potential and potentially significant...
We asked the Department how with such a large number of potential and potentially significant conflicts of interest, within staff, non-executive directors or Ministers at the Department, they make sure that conflicts are identified and dealt with properly. The Department … Read more
Government Response
The department will maintain and improve accountability by embedding their revised processes so that these are undertaken on a timely basis each and every year and normalise the transparency of the results by inclusion of the full list of interests identified in every Annual Report and Accounts.
HM Treasury
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23 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
The Department set out in its Governance Statement that during the audit of the Department’s...
The Department set out in its Governance Statement that during the audit of the Department’s accounts, it became apparent the Department’s process for collating and assessing potential related parties and related party transactions did not provide the necessary completeness assurance … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees to maintain and improve accountability by embedding their revised processes for identifying and disclosing interests and related parties and will continue to include a full list of interests in each annual report and accounts.
HM Treasury
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24 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
The Health and Care Bill introduces statutory Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), made up of an...
The Health and Care Bill introduces statutory Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), made up of an Integrated Care Board (ICB), responsible for the commissioning of healthcare services and an Integrated Care Partnership (ICP), an alliance of organisations and representatives to improve … Read more
Government Response
The department will monitor and control the approval of all redundancy payments made by entities within the Departmental Group to ensure such payments are properly authorized in advance and are not irregular by using updated ALB delegations, the Exit and High Risk Sub Group (EHRSG), internal NHS England processes, and due diligence checks.
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25 Conclusion Acknowledged
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
We asked the Department what plans it had put in place to prepare for this...
We asked the Department what plans it had put in place to prepare for this large-scale structural change in the NHS. The Department said the NHS had “extensive plans” and it was looking for radical change in how these organisations … Read more
Government Response
The Department said the NHS had “extensive plans” and it was looking for radical change in how these organisations and their people work together to put flexibility into the system and its use of health and social care funding.
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26 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
Three Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) paid special severance payments without obtaining the required approvals.47 The...
Three Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) paid special severance payments without obtaining the required approvals.47 The C&AG qualified his regularity audit opinion on the NHS England 2020–21 Annual Report and Accounts in respect of one of these, a special severance payment … Read more
Government Response
The department has processes in place for monitoring and controlling the approval of exit payments.
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27 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
We questioned the Department on what forward thinking it is doing to prevent unauthorised payments...
We questioned the Department on what forward thinking it is doing to prevent unauthorised payments being made to individuals leaving the NHS as a result of the planned re-organisation. The Department acknowledged there is a chance that the re-organisation of … Read more
Government Response
The department will monitor and control the approval of all redundancy payments made by entities within the Departmental Group to ensure such payments are properly authorized in advance and are not irregular by using updated ALB delegations, the Exit and High Risk Sub Group (EHRSG), internal NHS England processes, and due diligence checks.
HM Treasury
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28 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
The Department established the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on 1 April 2021 as a...
The Department established the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on 1 April 2021 as a new executive agency to be the UK leader for health protection responsible for ensuring the nation can respond quickly and at greater scale to deal … Read more
Government Response
The Department has written to the Committee setting out the steps implemented to ensure the department’s Financial Planning and Budgeting process allows its Arm’s Length Bodies sufficient time to plan for the year ahead.
HM Treasury
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29 Conclusion
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
On 21 February 2022 the Prime Minister outlined the Government’s strategy for living with COVID-19...
On 21 February 2022 the Prime Minister outlined the Government’s strategy for living with COVID-19 including the scaling back of testing, tracing and isolation.54 The Government’s intention is to put an end to the free supply of lateral flow testing … Read more
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30 Conclusion Accepted
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
Given the uncertainty and plan to reduce test and trace activity we asked the Department...
Given the uncertainty and plan to reduce test and trace activity we asked the Department whether UKHSA would have enough funding to operate going forward. The Department replied that this was under discussion.58 We asked the Department when we took … Read more
Government Response
The Department has written to the Committee setting out the steps implemented to ensure the department’s Financial Planning and Budgeting process allows its Arm’s Length Bodies sufficient time to plan for the year ahead.
HM Treasury
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31 Recommendation Deferred
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
To provide proper timely accountability on how public funds have been spent, the administrative deadline...
To provide proper timely accountability on how public funds have been spent, the administrative deadline set by Treasury for Departments to publish their Annual Report and Accounts is 30 June, where possible, and no later than the parliamentary summer recess … Read more
Government Response
The department has a plan to bring forward its accounts preparation process, but will not be able to support pre-recess laying of the ARA for 2022-23 and is working to return to pre-recess laying of the ARA from 2023-24 onwards dependent upon the capacity of the national and local audit markets.
HM Treasury
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32 Conclusion
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
At the time of our evidence session, one NHS Trust, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS...
At the time of our evidence session, one NHS Trust, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL), had yet to publish its 2019–20 or 2020–21 Annual Report and Accounts. The C&AG reported last year that as a result of the … Read more
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33 Conclusion Not Addressed
Sixth Report - Department of Healt…
We asked the Department what it was doing to assure itself that the situation at...
We asked the Department what it was doing to assure itself that the situation at UHL would be resolved and whether it was an isolated occurrence or indicative of similar issues that may surface elsewhere in the NHS in the … Read more
Government Response
The government response details NHS England's process for scrutinizing severance cases and contractual payments for NHS and foundation trusts, which is unrelated to the original query about resolving governance issues at UHL and systemic issues within the NHS.
HM Treasury
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Government Response AI assessment · 28 of 20 classified
Accepted 20
Accepted in Part 1
Acknowledged 1
Deferred 1
Not Addressed 5
Total 20 recs + 13 conclusions
Correspondence 3 letters
24 May 2022 Correspondence from Sir Chris Wormald, Permanent Secretary, Department of Health and Social Care, re DHSC Annual Reports and Accounts 2020-2021, dated 16 May 2022
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21 Apr 2022 Correspondence from Sir Chris Wormald, Permanent Secretary, Department of Health and Social Care, re DHSC Annual Reports & Accounts 2020-21, dated 19 April 2022
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28 Mar 2022 Correspondence from Sir Chris Wormald, Permanent Secretary, Department of Health and Social Care, re PAC Hearing – DHSC Annual Report & Accounts 2020-21, dated 22 March 2022
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