The Treasury notes the Committee’s comments on NS&I’s ability to provide an updated estimate of Programme costs. As noted in the response to Recommendation 8, NS&I is now working to an agreed and approved integrated Programme plan, which sets out the end date, key milestones and deliverables for the remaining phases of the Programme. NS&I’s Full Business Case for the Programme was approved in December 2023 and included the requirement for NS&I to develop a detailed Cost Management Plan, Programme Plan and Benefits Realisation Plan. All of these plans have been developed and were approved by the Treasury in March 2024. The plans clearly define the scope and costs for the full Programme and how benefits will be tracked and realised. NS&I provides a breakdown of actual spend for the Programme on a monthly basis, which is reviewed by the Treasury and has been in line with the approved expenditure. The Treasury also holds quarterly assurance meetings with NS&I at which spend data is reviewed and validated. The Treasury continues to scrutinise the Programme and ensure that NS&I has robust processes in place to track and manage its costs. NS&I has significantly improved the quality of its financial data for the Programme since the NAO report. NS&I have robust financial controls in place and have recently completed an external review of its financial management, controls and processes which found that its practices are strong and comply with financial accounting standards. It found that NS&I’s cost management plan contains clear and comprehensive financial information on all aspects of the Programme. It also includes comprehensive monitoring of costs and associated governance which aligns to best practice and good governance. NS&I is continually looking for ways to improve the quality of financial information. NS&I are also developing a new approach to reporting of its cost data to make it more comprehensive and accessible for the next Programme business case. This will be an improved single source of data which will include a full breakdown of the Programme costs with clear cost categorisation.