19
Accepted
Permanent Secretary chose not to inform C&AG or report data breach in MoD's annual accounts.
Conclusion
The data breach was also not reported in the MoD’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2023–24. The Comptroller & Auditor General, who is an officer of the House of Commons, is responsible for the audit of these accounts, which is carried out by his staff at the National Audit Office (NAO).48 The Department said it was accounting for all of the spend on the ARR in the way that it was accounting for the public Afghan relocations and assistance policy spend. It took the judgment that it would not ‘read in’ the C&AG at that point.49 The Permanent Secretary commented that, “In the 2023–24 accounts, my sense was that, at that point, there was nothing material that the Comptroller and Auditor General needed to know about, but it may well be that the Comptroller and Auditor General will come to a different view as we finalise the accounts for 2024–25”.50 In correspondence received after our evidence session the Permanent Secretary stated that he took the decision not to inform the C&AG in the knowledge of the Ministerial position on reading in Parliamentarians and because he judged it would extend the circle of knowledge without offering an opportunity for meaningful scrutiny while the super-injunction was in place.51
Government Response Summary
The government agrees to work with the Committee to ensure timely information sharing, committing to new guidance from the Treasury Officer of Accounts by Spring 2026 on super-injunctions and C&AG communication, and a Dear Accounting Officer letter to be incorporated into Managing Public Money.
Government Response
Accepted
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2026 4.2 The department will continue to work with the Committee to ensure they have sufficient and timely information to enable them to undertake their roles in the context of any similar situations in the future. The department is keeping under review how this is done in the most extreme cases where secrecy poses a challenge to the normal processes. This will be covered by the new guidance issued by the Treasury Officer of Accounts on how to act in the event of a super-injunction. 4.3 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2026 4.4 The Treasury will issue a Dear Accounting Officer letter to provide guidance on this issue. This will include guidance on the principles and practicalities of sharing information with the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) in the event of a super-injunction, with particular consideration of the statutory duty to give assistance, information and explanation to the C&AG to enable them to meet their statutory duty to examine government department’s accounts. The guidance will then be incorporated into the next update of Managing Public Money.
Source
Committee
Public Accounts Committee
Inquiry
Afghanistan Response Route (ARR)
Report
54th Report - Afghanistan Response Route
14 Nov 2025
HC 1391
Addressee Bodies
HM Treasury
Timeline
Recommendation age
0.7 yr
Report published
14 Nov 2025