Eighth Report - COVID 19: Culture Recovery Fund
Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee
HC 340
23 June 2021
Government response
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Eighth report from Session 2021-22 · published 28 Oct 2021
Recommendations & Conclusions
6 results
3
Recommendation
Rejected
In implementing the fund during the pandemic, the Department’s need to act quickly to provide...
Recommendation
In implementing the fund during the pandemic, the Department’s need to act quickly to provide funding to applicants while also protecting taxpayers’ money meant some applicants’ experiences could have been better. The Department announced the fund in July 2020, with …
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Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation, arguing that streamlining processes would have risked propriety during rapid fund delivery, and that extensive feedback to unsuccessful applicants would have caused delays.
HM Treasury
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11
Conclusion
Rejected
The Department had considered that the end of September 2020 represented a cliff- edge for...
Conclusion
The Department had considered that the end of September 2020 represented a cliff- edge for the sector, with many organisations in the sector likely to run out of money and close permanently if support was not available by then.27 We …
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Government Response Summary
The government rejects the committee's implied criticism regarding the pace and streamlining of the Culture Recovery Fund, asserting that the fund was delivered quickly while balancing proper allocation of taxpayer money and reducing fraud risk.
HM Treasury
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12
Conclusion
Rejected
We asked the Department what it had learned about setting and communicating realistic deadlines.
Conclusion
We asked the Department what it had learned about setting and communicating realistic deadlines. It considered that what mattered to organisations was knowing that they were going to get funding. It acknowledged that it had given advance notice about when …
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Government Response Summary
The government rejects the committee's implied criticism about setting and communicating realistic deadlines, arguing that the Culture Recovery Fund's processes were made as streamlined as possible while maintaining propriety.
HM Treasury
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13
Conclusion
Rejected
We asked the Department whether in retrospect it had struck the right balance between applying...
Conclusion
We asked the Department whether in retrospect it had struck the right balance between applying due diligence and how quickly funding reached organisations. The Department and ACE assured us that they were not aware of any organisation that had fallen …
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Government Response Summary
The government rejects the committee's implied criticism regarding the balance between due diligence and funding speed for the Culture Recovery Fund, stating that further streamlining would have risked the fund's propriety.
HM Treasury
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14
Conclusion
Rejected
We asked about the low level of fraud in the fund and whether the Department’s...
Conclusion
We asked about the low level of fraud in the fund and whether the Department’s focus on due diligence had led to this low level. ACE explained it had a dedicated counter-fraud resource and had so far identified no fraudulent …
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Government Response Summary
The government states it disagrees with the committee's (implicit) recommendation regarding streamlined funding processes, defending its stringent counter-fraud measures as essential for proper allocation of taxpayer money and stating further streamlining would risk the fund's propriety.
HM Treasury
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15
Recommendation
Rejected
We received good evidence from a number of bodies about their experience of the fund...
Recommendation
We received good evidence from a number of bodies about their experience of the fund and the challenges they had faced. For example some had struggled with the language of the grant form, which seemed to be geared to the …
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Government Response Summary
The government rejected the recommendation, stating that streamlining funding processes would risk propriety and providing detailed feedback to all unsuccessful applicants would cause delays and significant opportunity cost. They noted some adjustments were made to feedback provision after CRF1.
HM Treasury
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