UK Inquiry Tracker

NAO financial audit insights 2024-25

Public Accounts Committee Open Inquiry

Opened: 12 Dec 2025 Parliament page

The National Audit Office (NAO) performs financial audits of over 400 public organisations, overseeing £1.2trillion in spending, providing assurance to Parliament as it does on how taxpayers’ money is being spent. It establishes whether organisations’ financial statements are true and fair, and whether what is being spent and collected is … Read more The National Audit Office (NAO) performs financial audits of over 400 public organisations, overseeing £1.2trillion in spending, providing assurance to Parliament as it does on how taxpayers’ money is being spent. It establishes whether organisations’ financial statements are true and fair, and whether what is being spent and collected is in accordance with Parliament’s intentions. The public finances are constrained, meaning that government is constantly under pressure to do more with less. A strengthening of financial reporting standards in recent years has led to longer and more complex annual reports for many public sector organisations. The Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) report on the Whole of Government Accounts 2022-23 warned government’s accounts are not focused sufficiently on long-term financial risks posed by climate change, rising health spending, and geopolitical tensions. It further highlighted the fact that there was not enough oversight over worsening local authority finances. The NAO in 2026 publishes a report laying out lessons and findings from its financial audits in 2024-25, which aims to highlight areas of emerging importance for government to focus on. Proceeding from the NAO’s report, the PAC will take evidence from senior Treasury officials as it scrutinises the key lessons and measures from the report that ought to be put in place to ensure proper transparency, accountability and scrutiny of public money. If you have evidence on these issues, please submit here by 23:59 on Thursday 5 March 2026 . Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. The Committee decides what information to publish and how. You can request anonymity or confidentiality when you send evidence, but it is for the Committee to say whether it will agree.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

1 Recommendation

20 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

1 Letter

1 Event

Activity timeline 4 events

22 May
2026

Report published

Second Report - NAO financial audit insights 2024–25

20 Apr
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary of HM Treasury to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee relating to NAO financial audit insights 2…

19 Mar
2026

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

19 Mar
2026

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

Committee event

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

19 Mar 2026

View on parliament.uk

Andrew Cartner · HM Treasury Charlotte Simmonds · Restoration and Renewal Client Team James Bowler CB · HM Treasury Philip Duffy · Environment Agency Russ MacMillan · Palace of Westminster Restoration and Renewal Delivery Authority

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Second Report - NAO financial audit insights 2024–25	HC 94	22 May 2026	21	Pending

Recommendations & Conclusions

21 results

2 Conclusion

Second Report - NAO financial audi…

Qualified accounts are a persistent feature of government’s financial reporting and may indicate underlying weaknesses...

Qualified accounts are a persistent feature of government’s financial reporting and may indicate underlying weaknesses in the financial controls of some bodies. There were 14 government bodies with qualified accounts in 2024–25. Moreover, there are bodies such as the Department … Read more

HM Treasury

NAO financial audit insights 2024-25

Activity timeline 4 events

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Recommendations & Conclusions

Qualified accounts are a persistent feature of government’s financial reporting and may indicate underlying weaknesses...

We are concerned that the 17 departmental groups had to write off close to £7...

Government bodies too often lack the necessary financial management skills to support digital transformation effectively.

The money that government estimates it owes under various compensation schemes has risen in recent...

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...

There has been gradual improvement to reporting timescales since 2019–20, with nearly two-thirds of government...

HMT told us that government bodies are legislatively required to publish their accounts by 31...

HMT agreed there are considerable benefits to reporting by summer because this frees up finance...

The C&AG qualifies his audit opinion when material issues are identified in a body’s accounts...

We asked witnesses what they were doing to help organisations that regularly have their accounts...

Over the period 2019–20 to 2023–24, the Environment Agency’s annual accounts were qualified five times...

The agency told us there have been considerable additional benefits from improving management of its...

The 17 main departmental groups reported more than 2.7 million losses in 2024–25 amounting to...

The Ministry of Defence incurred a £1.6 billion loss in 2024–25 simply through cancelling projects.33...

Despite these large amounts, HMT noted that special payments and losses are areas of much...

IT and digital infrastructure are integral to all government organisations.

However, while government generally manages business-as-usual IT changes and processes reasonably well, it often finds...

We asked witnesses what they were doing to ensure that government’s investment in digital transformation...

The GFF told us it is specifically increasing efforts around digital, data and change management...

The largest ongoing compensation schemes currently administered by government have paid over £29 billion since...

HMT acknowledged that clinical negligence had a significant impact on overall levels of compensation in...

Correspondence 1 letter