There is an apparent lack of ownership by the Treasury of the analysis and scenario planning activities necessary to manage the impact of COVID-19 on government finances. The scale of the likely increase in government borrowing to fund government’s response to COVID-19 is a significant new challenge to the Treasury’s objective to place the public finances on a sustainable footing. While the Office for Budget Responsibility is responsible for producing economic forecasts and analysis of the pu...

There is an apparent lack of ownership by the Treasury of the analysis and scenario planning activities necessary to manage the impact of COVID-19 on government finances. The scale of the likely increase in government borrowing to fund government’s response to COVID-19 is a significant new challenge to the Treasury’s objective to place the public finances on a sustainable footing. While the Office for Budget Responsibility is responsible for producing economic forecasts and analysis of the public finances, it is a matter for government to determine how that information is used to make policy decisions. The Treasury has not explained how the c Type: conclusion | Number: 2 | Response status: under_consideration Government response: 2: PAC conclusion: There is an apparent lack of ownership by the Treasury of the analysis and scenario planning activities necessary to manage the impact of COVID-19 on government finances. 2: PAC recommendation: The Treasury should write to the committee se