Lessons for government: monitoring and responding to companies in distress

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 13 Dec 2023 Closed: 28 May 2024 Parliament page
Direct intervention in the private sector has generally been seen as a last resort by the Government, with private sector companies allowed to fail as part of the efficient working of markets and the economy. The Government’s approach in this area is now changing, with the pandemic, war in Ukraine … Read more
17 Recommendations
10 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
2 Letters
1 Event
Activity timeline 6 events
28 May
2024
Report published
13 Mar
2024
Report published
6 Feb
2024
Correspondence
6 Feb
2024
Correspondence
17 Jan
2024
Oral evidence
17 Jan
2024
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
17 Jan 2024
View on parliament.uk
Lessons for government: monitoring and responding to companies in distress
Hannah Gray · UK Government Investments Jess Glover · HM Treasury Neil Johnson · Department for Business and Trade Sir Gareth Rhys Williams CB · Cabinet Office
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Twentieth Report - Monitoring and responding to companies in dis… HC 425 13 Mar 2024 27 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
6 results
Clear
22 Recommendation Deferred
Twentieth Report - Monitoring and …
Specialist skills for company distress are concentrated centrally, resulting in patchy government capabilities.
The Treasury told us that having the right skills and capabilities in place is “a really critical lesson” highlighted by the NAO’s report. It acknowledged that these skills are currently “patchy across government”.61 The relevant specialist skills for responding to … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation to address patchy skills across government, setting an April 2025 target. It outlines existing guidance and training but commits to the Cabinet Office Commercial Function working with relevant bodies to look at developing a more targeted approach for skills development.
HM Treasury
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23 Recommendation Deferred
Twentieth Report - Monitoring and …
Departments and regulators face ongoing challenges in securing high-demand commercial and financial skills.
Nonetheless, the Treasury reiterated that it is up to departments and regulators to ensure they have the capability and capacity to discharge their duties, including understanding what financial expertise they need.66 The Department for Business and Trade explained how the … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation regarding skills and capabilities across government, setting an April 2025 target. It refers to existing guidance and risk management frameworks, and commits to the Cabinet Office Commercial Function working with other bodies to look at developing a more targeted approach for skills development.
HM Treasury
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24 Recommendation Deferred
Twentieth Report - Monitoring and …
Government company interventions are not consistently or robustly evaluated, hindering learning and accountability.
Evaluation is a systematic assessment of the design, implementation, and outcomes of an intervention.69 It is important for learning what works and why, and to demonstrate accountability for the use of public money.70 Our work on the use of evaluation … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation on the importance of evaluation and sets a target date of July 2024. It acknowledges that evaluation of company cases has not been formalized and will work with Cabinet Office and UKGI to consider future changes and how to strengthen departmental evaluation requirements.
HM Treasury
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25 Recommendation Deferred
Twentieth Report - Monitoring and …
Treasury acknowledges government's current lack of systematic evaluation for company interventions and non-interventions.
We asked the witnesses about how robustly government collates and shares evaluation findings and lessons on this topic. The Treasury suggested that this was something they “can probably be a bit more systematic on”. It provided the example of the … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation to systematically evaluate interventions and non-interventions, setting a target date of July 2024. It commits to working with Cabinet Office and UKGI to consider future changes, potentially including placing conditions on departments to report back to the centre.
HM Treasury
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26 Conclusion Deferred
Twentieth Report - Monitoring and …
Challenges persist in recovering costs from third parties after airline insolvencies.
We asked the witnesses whether there had been any learning from the experiences of airline collapses about industry insurance schemes and also how government manages the risks around recuperating money from private insurers. UKGI suggested that there was some work … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation and aims for a July 2024 implementation, acknowledging that evaluation of company cases has not been formalized. It states HM Treasury will work with Cabinet Office and UKGI to consider future changes to internal evaluation, rather than specifically addressing lessons from airline collapses or managing risks with private insurers.
HM Treasury
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27 Recommendation Deferred
Twentieth Report - Monitoring and …
Value in exploring international frameworks for company intervention and non-intervention approaches.
We also asked the witnesses whether they looked to different international regimes to learn any lessons about how to deal with companies and sectors that might be in trouble. The Treasury and the Cabinet Office said that each country is … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation and aims for a July 2024 implementation, but focuses its response on improving and formalizing the internal evaluation of company distress cases. HM Treasury will work with the Cabinet Office and UKGI to consider future changes, including strengthening requirements for departmental evaluation, but does not explicitly commit to reviewing international frameworks.
HM Treasury
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Government Response AI assessment · 26 of 17 classified
Accepted 17
Acknowledged 2
Deferred 6
Rejected 1
Total 17 recs + 10 conclusions
Correspondence 2 letters
6 Feb 2024 Correspondence from Gareth Rhys Williams CB, Government Chief Commercial Officer and Non-Executive Director, Crown Commercial Service, re Committee’s inquiry into lessons for government: monitoring and responding to companies in distress, dated 26 January 2024
Parliament page
6 Feb 2024 Correspondence from Jessica Glover, Director General, Growth and Productivity, HM Treasury, re Lessons for government in monitoring and responding to companies in distress hearing, dated 30 January 2024
Parliament page