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The Accounting Officer told us that he received regular advice on a range of Home...

Recommendation
The Accounting Officer told us that he received regular advice on a range of Home Office issues including each part, and the totality, of the programme of activity to stop the crossings of small boats and deter illegal migration. The Accounting Officer accepted his obligation to provide AO assessment summaries when there was a significant change to a programme or policy.52 HM Treasury wrote to use after the evidence session to clarify that a “significant change” included circumstances where a project no longer met the standards which informed the AO’s previous assessment or there was a major change in the programme’s scope.53 We questioned why the Accounting Officer had not updated his AO assessment on the Sovereign Borders Programme to reflect the introduction of the Illegal Migration Act. At the evidence session, the Accounting Officer acknowledged that this was a significant piece of legislation and told us they were keeping their assessment under constant review.54 The Home Office subsequently provided written evidence which explained that the summary assessment only covered the Nationality and Borders Act as this was the scope of the outline business case. The Home Office committed to publishing an updated summary AO assessment after the outline business case is updated to incorporate the Illegal Migration Act and Safety of Rwanda Bill.55
Government Response

A response document is linked to this report, dated 11 July 2025. Response attribution to this conclusion has not been verified. Read the response document.

Addressee Bodies
HM Treasury
Timeline
Recommendation age 2.3 yrs
Report published 29 May 2024