In an update, issued today, the National Audit Office reviewed the FMR delivery plans in detail. It said the Treasury had made significant developments in the review of financial management in government but that recommendations may not be fully implemented before the 2015 spending review.
The Treasury-led 2013 review proposed a stronger spending control framework, management information and internal audit across Whitehall. It also saw the appointment of Julian Kelly as director general of public spending and finance in the Treasury after the review concluded that such an appointment would strengthen value for money across government.
‘The delivery plans have expanded to go beyond the initially stated aims of the Financial Management Review. In particular, some workstreams in the Finance Operating Model delivery plan (eg Target Operating Model) appear to be additional to the list of ten recommendations in the December 2013 document,’ the NAO report stated.
‘The delivery plans are works in progress, and there has already been some movement in planned delivery dates. In particular, the People plan has moved some actions it had hoped to achieve by the 2015 spending review into delivery in 2016, while some deadlines for Performance and Planning outputs have been brought forward.’
It said that, because delivery plans were still in development, it was difficult to conclude whether this was ‘a reasonable adjustment of expectations or early indications of the challenges in implementation’.
‘We will monitor progress in the early stages of the new Parliament and report as appropriate,’ the NAO stated.
The watchdog said the next major test for financial management implementation would be the impact on planning, agreeing and implementing the coming Spending Review.
Many of the FMR actions under way would provide valuable support for spending review discussions if there are comparable results for all departments.
‘In particular, those actions which aim to provide deeper understanding of the drivers of costs, and those which try to present a complete picture of departmental risks. The current plan is for key tools to be rolled out to all departments in 2015, in time for a possible Spending Review in autumn,’ the NAO said.
