PAC welcomes Whole of Government Accounts 2009-10

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The Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has published its 67th report of Session 2010-12, on the basis of evidence from HM Treasury.

The PAC has welcomed the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA), that were published by the Treasury in November 2011 and cover 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010.

The WGA has been marked as a major step forward in improving transparency and accountability and reveals, for example, that at 31 March 2010 the Government’s public service pensions liability was more than £1,132bn and the present value of its future commitments under PFI schemes was £131.5bn– four times the value of the assets secured through the deals.

The accounts also show that £10.9bn was written off in unpaid taxes by the Government, which expected to have to pay £15.7bn for outstanding clinical negligence claims.

PAC, however, was surprised to find that Treasury did not have a hold of trends in some key areas of risk or plans for managing them. For example, clinical negligence claims at 31 March 2010 accounted for 15% of provisions for future government spending. Treasury now has the potential to strengthen the management of public finances if it uses the WGA to identify influences on the government’s financial position, including where it is most exposed, and uses these to better anticipate the risks that it must address. The Treasury must use this opportunity better to manage these risks.

The PAC also highlighted that the WGA is out of date, having taken some 20 months to be prepared. Countries such as France, the USA and Australia can produce similar accounts in less than nine months, so this must get better.

The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, said: “The challenge is to improve the accuracy and extend the coverage so that there is proper transparency over the Government’s spending commitments over time – not just in the Spending Review period.”

To view the report, click here.