UK Inquiry Tracker

Whole of Government Accounts 2023-24

Public Accounts Committee Open Inquiry

Opened: 11 Jul 2025 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. For the first time ever in 2022-23, the … Read more 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. For the first time ever in 2022-23, the National Audit Office was unable to sign the WGA. This was due to the local audit crisis, whereby only 10% of 426 English local authorities submitted reliable data for the year, with 187 failing to submit at all. The PAC’s scrutiny of the WGA 2022-23 found that the government was flying blind in addressing struggling council finances amidst an unprecedented crisis in local audit, with concerns that government would not be able to foresee issues in local government finance and intervene where appropriate. The report warned that the WGA was not focused sufficiently on long-term financial risks posed by climate change, rising health spending, and geopolitical tensions. Based on the National Audit Office’s report on the Whole of Government Accounts 2023-24, the PAC will take evidence from senior government officials as it conducts its own scrutiny of the WGA. If you have evidence on these issues, please submit here by 23:59 on Thursday 27 November 2025. Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. You can request anonymity or confidentiality when you send evidence, but it is the Committee which decides what information to publish and how. It may treat submissions confidentially, even where you have not requested this. Please note that the Committee’s inquiry cannot assist with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to read the information on Parliament’s website about who you can contact with different issues . Show less

8 Recommendations

21 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

2 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 4 events

1 Jun
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government relating to Treasury Minute - Sixty-ninth …

4 Mar
2026

Report published

69th Report - Whole of Government Accounts 2023-24

26 Jan
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary at HM Treasury relating to a follow-up to the Committee’s evidence session on 11 December 2025 on Whole…

11 Dec
2025

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

11 Dec 2025

View on parliament.uk

Andrew Cartner · HM Treasury Conrad Smewing · HM Treasury James Bowler CB · HM Treasury Rosie Seymour · Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Will Garton · Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Will Garton · Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
69th Report - Whole of Government Accounts 2023-24	HC 1243	4 Mar 2026	29	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

3 results

1 Conclusion Acknowledged

69th Report - Whole of Government …

On the basis of the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) for the year ended 31...

On the basis of the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) for the year ended 31 March 2024, we took evidence from HM Treasury (the Treasury) and from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).1

Government Response

HM Treasury acknowledged the Committee’s interest in whether the government’s focus and composition is sufficient and aligned with the level of complexity involved in improving the WGA and provided a summary of actions taken to shift the focus of the recovery plan towards both accessibility and compliance.

HM Treasury

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8 Conclusion Acknowledged

69th Report - Whole of Government …

We asked the Treasury how many staff it allocated to consolidating this account, and officials...

We asked the Treasury how many staff it allocated to consolidating this account, and officials explained that the core team responsible for preparing the WGA consists of six to seven dedicated staff, supported at key stages by colleagues across the … Read more

Government Response

The government acknowledges the Committee’s interest in the sufficiency of its focus and composition on WGA. It states that wider reforms in the local audit sector and ongoing reviews of WGA's scope and direction, along with actions to improve accessibility and compliance, are underway to address weaknesses.

HM Treasury

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17 Conclusion Acknowledged

69th Report - Whole of Government …

We also challenged MHCLG on how reorganisation in local government will affect WGA.32 The Local...

We also challenged MHCLG on how reorganisation in local government will affect WGA.32 The Local Government Reorganisation ambition is to simplify local government by ending the two-tier system and establishing new single-tier unitary councils.33 MHCLG confirmed that accounts for areas … Read more

Government Response

The government agrees with the Committee’s observations, acknowledging the impact of the Local Government Reorganisation programme on WGA submissions from 2028-29 onwards. It states that engagement is ongoing to identify issues and mitigate risks, with a target implementation date of April 2029 for the full reorganisation.

HM Treasury

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Government Response AI assessment · 29 of 8 classified

Accepted 16

Acknowledged 3

Deferred 4

Rejected 6

Total 8 recs + 21 conclusions

Correspondence 2 letters

1 Jun 2026 To committee Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government relating to Treasury Minute - Sixty-ninth Report of Session 2024-26, 21 May 2026

Parliament page

26 Jan 2026 To committee Letter from the Permanent Secretary at HM Treasury relating to a follow-up to the Committee’s evidence session on 11 December 2025 on Whole of Government Accounts 2023–24, 16 January 2026

Parliament page