Whole of Government Accounts 2020-21

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 12 Sep 2023 Closed: 3 Apr 2024 Parliament page
The Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) consolidates the accounts of over 10,000 public organisations, including central government departments, local authorities, devolved administrations, the NHS, academy schools and public corporations, to provide the most complete and accurate picture of the UK’s public finances. The 2020-21 WGA provides the most comprehensive view … Read more
4 Recommendations
28 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
1 Letter
1 Event
Activity timeline 5 events
2 Apr
2024
Report published
26 Jan
2024
Report published
11 Dec
2023
Correspondence
9 Nov
2023
Oral evidence
9 Nov
2023
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 16, Palace of Westminster
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
9 Nov 2023
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Whole of Government Accounts 2020-21
Andrew Cartner · HM Treasury Cat Little · Cabinet Office Conrad Smewing · HM Treasury
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Ninth Report - Whole of Government Accounts 2020–21 HC 65 26 Jan 2024 32 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
22 results
Clear
2 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Mandate HM Treasury to proactively collect WGA data and address missing submissions.
It is unacceptable that the increase in missing data is reducing the utility and reliability of the Whole of Government Accounts. A total of 155 public bodies did not submit data this year, including two pension schemes with liabilities of … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees, stating it has already included details on addressing missing data in the 2021-22 WGA governance statement and an expanded section in the performance report, and will continue to do so in future publications.
HM Treasury
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3 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Require HM Treasury to explain its credible plan for resolving the local audit crisis.
We remain concerned that failures in the English local audit market are resulting in poorer quality data for Central Government, and are at risk of spreading to other sectors. The system of local government audit is close to breaking point, … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees and states it has implemented the recommendation by writing to the Committee in early March 2024, detailing its senior-level engagement with DLUHC and FRC to address the local audit crisis.
HM Treasury
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4 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Establish a long-term plan for tracking COVID-related costs and evaluating support schemes.
HM Treasury does not have a clear plan for tracking ongoing COVID costs or evaluating COVID schemes in the longer term. It is essential that government learns from its response to the pandemic to ensure that lessons are applied and … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees and commits to providing a list of relevant COVID scheme evaluations by July 2024 and to carry out an exercise to distil cross-cutting lessons, with an update to the Committee in April. It also highlights ongoing efforts in risk management and refining spending frameworks.
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5 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Mandate consistent departmental data collection for improved Whole of Government Accounts reporting on key themes.
HM Treasury is not sufficiently proactive in identifying the data it requires for reporting thematic spend in the WGA, or communicating this with Departments. HM Treasury does not actively pursue the data it needs for the WGA beyond providing initial … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees, stating the 2021-22 WGA already includes updates on climate-related disclosures and inflation impacts, and it signposts to other relevant government publications. HM Treasury will remain mindful of useful disclosures while balancing complexity, noting WGA is part of a broader flexible reporting framework.
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6 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Improve accessibility of Whole of Government Accounts information for Parliament, including localised spending data.
HM Treasury is not making the most of the information available within the WGA. As the balance sheet of the nation and an economic snapshot of the economy, the WGA has the potential to be an important and useful document … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation and has written to the Parliamentary Scrutiny Unit to explore providing training and seminars to MPs to improve WGA accessibility. It also highlighted that regional spending data is already available through OSCAR II publications like PESA and CRA.
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1 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Committee took evidence from HM Treasury on the 2020-21 Whole of Government Accounts.
Based on the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) for the year ended 31 March 2021, we took evidence from HM Treasury (the Treasury) on 9th November 2023.1
Government Response
The government outlines a specific forward recovery plan for WGA publication, committing to publish the 2021-22 WGA by March 2024, 2022-23 by November 2024, and 2023-24 by July 2025.
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7 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Significant delays occurred in the publication of the 2020-21 Whole of Government Accounts.
The Treasury published the 2020–21 WGA on 20 July 2023, 27 months after the end of the financial year. The Treasury did not provide the first complete draft of the accounts to the NAO until April 2023, nearly 14 months … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the observation regarding publication delays and has set specific target dates to publish the 2021-22 WGA by March 2024, 2022-23 by November 2024, and 2023-24 by July 2025, outlining a forward recovery plan.
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8 Recommendation Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Treasury failed to meet revised WGA publication timetables despite previous commitments.
As part of our inquiry into the 2019–20 Whole of Government Accounts, we concluded that the Treasury had taken too long to deliver the accounts, having been unrealistic with its timetable. We recommended that the Department reviewed the causes of … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees and will write to the Committee by end of March 2024 with an update on future WGA publication plans, including specific target dates for 2021-22 (March 2024), 2022-23 (November 2024), and 2023-24 (July 2025) based on a forward recovery plan.
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9 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
WGA publication delays attributed to data collection and feeder accounts, despite HMT assertions.
We therefore asked the Treasury why publication of the 2020–21 WGA was so delayed. The Treasury told us that it had assumed that collecting the data needed for the WGA would take two to three months, that preparing the accounts … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the Committee's observation on WGA delays and outlines a forward recovery plan with specific publication dates: March 2024 for 2021-22, November 2024 for 2022-23, and July 2025 for 2023-24.
HM Treasury
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10 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Timeliness of Whole of Government Accounts is essential for transparency and governance.
The WGA offers an important tool not only for managing public finances but for ensuring transparency and accountability.12 We received written evidence from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), which told us that the WGA is … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the importance of timely WGA publication and commits to publishing the 2021-22 WGA by March 2024, the 2022-23 WGA by November 2024, and the 2023-24 WGA by July 2025, outlining an ambitious forward recovery plan.
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11 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Treasury confident in new 15-month WGA publication timetable using parallel processing system.
The Treasury included its recovery plan for the WGA as part of its update in December 2022, which included returning to the pre-Covid timetables of produce the WGA no more than 15-months after the end of the relevant financial year. … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the committee's observation regarding the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) recovery timetable and provides specific publication plans for future WGAs: 2021-22 in March 2024, 2022-23 in November 2024, and 2023-24 in July 2025, with a target to return to the 15-month publication schedule.
HM Treasury
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12 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Significant volume of public expenditure data missing from 2020-21 Whole of Government Accounts
Despite the multiple extensions to the data collection window, a large volume of data was nonetheless missing from the 2020–21 WGA when it was published. A total of 155 entities did not submit the data requested, including 137 entities which … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees to proactively work with entities to ensure timely data collection, requiring draft data where necessary, and is running webinars and strengthening discipline in central government by linking WGA returns to Accounting Officer assessments.
HM Treasury
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13 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Extensive missing WGA data for 2020-21 impairs reliability, comparability, and expenditure reconciliation
When we examined the 2019–20 WGA, only 23 local bodies had failed to submit data. We found that this nonetheless impaired the reliability and quality of the data underlying the accounts, and consequently the validity of this data as a … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the committee's concerns regarding missing data impacting the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) and is taking proactive steps including requiring draft data submissions, engaging with stakeholders, running webinars, and strengthening central government discipline, targeting implementation by Spring 2024.
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14 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Missing and untimely WGA data limits its utility for government decision-making
We asked the Treasury about the extent of missing data and the impact of this on the ability of government to make decisions about public spending. HM Treasury recognised that any gap in data meant that there was uncertainty about … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the committee's concerns regarding the impact of missing data on WGA decision-making and is proactively working to improve data collection and completeness through requiring draft data, engaging stakeholders, running webinars, and strengthening central government discipline, with a target implementation by Spring 2024.
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15 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Increased use of unaudited data in 2020-21 WGA raises audit opinion concerns
HM Treasury also increased the use of unaudited data—data which has been audited only for presentation in the individual entity’s own accounts, rather than in OSCAR II format—in the 2020–21 WGA. We received written evidence from the ICAEW, which told … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the committee's observation regarding the use of unaudited data in the WGA and is committed to proactively working with entities to ensure timely data collection, including draft data submissions, to balance timeliness, quality, and assurance for the Whole of Government Accounts.
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16 Recommendation Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Treasury acts as passive receiver of WGA data, lacking proactive entity engagement
We asked the Treasury about the relationship it had with the public bodies which are required to submit data to the WGA, noting that the Treasury appeared to have operated largely as a passive receiver of data rather than actively … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees and commits to proactively working with entities to ensure timely data collection, requiring draft data, engaging senior stakeholders, running webinars, and strengthening central government discipline by linking WGA returns to Accounting Officer assessments.
HM Treasury
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23 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Unprecedented COVID-19 spending scale provides essential, long-term lessons for future government responses.
The scale and nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s response are unprecedented in recent history, the full cost of which will not be known for many years. By the end of March 2021, the estimated lifetime cost of … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees to continue tracking COVID-related costs, stating it will set out further details after summer 2024, and commits to providing a compendium of relevant COVID scheme evaluations by July 2024 and an update in April on its exercise to distil cross-cutting lessons.
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24 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Full impact of pandemic spending measures will remain unknown for many years.
The final cost and impact of some of the measures introduced in response to the pandemic will not be known for many years. We examined the Bounce Back Loans Scheme in December 2020 and April 2022, where we found that … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees to continue tracking COVID-related costs, stating it will outline further details after summer 2024, and commits to providing a list of relevant COVID scheme evaluations by July 2024 and an April update on its exercise to distil cross-cutting lessons from pandemic business support.
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25 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
HM Treasury not committed to continuing COVID-19 cost tracker beyond 2021-22 financial year.
The NAO collated and published information on the government’s response to the pandemic in its COVID-19 cost tracker, the first iteration of which was published in September 2020.40 The cost tracker is now maintained by HM Treasury, and this expenditure … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the committee's implicit recommendation to ensure long-term traceability of COVID-related costs and commits to setting out further details on how it will continue tracking these costs after the current HMT Covid Cost Tracker is published in summer 2024, targeting Autumn 2024 for implementation.
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27 Recommendation Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Treasury expects departments to evaluate material policies, supported by Evaluation Taskforce for quality assurance.
We have repeatedly raised the need and importance of evaluating the impact of funding provided as part of the measures introduced by government during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Treasury told us that it had undertaken interim evaluations of the schemes … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the importance of evaluating COVID schemes and commits to providing a list of relevant evaluations in a single compendium by July 2024 and an update in April on an exercise to distil lessons from pandemic business support.
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31 Recommendation Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
HM Treasury is open to providing seminars to improve public understanding of Whole of Government Accounts.
Given the potential for the WGA to be an important and really useful document about public spending, we asked the Treasury how it could help Parliamentarians and members of the public to understand the WGA and its implications. The ICAEW … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees to help Parliamentarians and the public understand the WGA by committing to improve accessibility, welcoming opportunities to hold seminars with NAO and Parliament, and having written to the Parliamentary Scrutiny Unit to explore providing training sessions for MPs.
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32 Conclusion Accepted
Ninth Report - Whole of Government…
Transparency and definitive fraud estimates in Whole of Government Accounts reporting remain inadequate
We have previously expressed concern about the level of transparency in WGA reporting.56 The ICAEW suggested that it would have been helpful to have a more definitive estimate of fraud and waste incurred during 2020–21 financial year. The ICAEW would … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the committee's implicit recommendation for greater transparency regarding fraud and waste. It commits to compiling a compendium of COVID scheme evaluations and providing a list of relevant evaluations in July 2024, as well as an update on distilling lessons from business support by April.
HM Treasury
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Government Response AI assessment · 31 of 4 classified
Accepted 22
Accepted in Part 1
Acknowledged 7
Deferred 1
Total 4 recs + 28 conclusions
Correspondence 1 letter
11 Dec 2023 Correspondence from Conrad Smewing, Director General Public Spending, re Follow up to the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) 2020-21 PAC Hearing, dated 3 December 2023
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