The Department has not yet developed a clear plan to remove the audit qualifications and deliver its accounts to a pre-summer recess timetable. The Department has prepared its accounts in exceptional circumstances for the past two years. It laid its 2021–22 Annual Report and Accounts on 26 January 2022, five days ahead of the statutory deadline, and as in 2020–21, they were heavily qualified by the C&AG. For 2022–23, it plans to bring forward its laying of its Annual Report and Accounts in Pa...

The Department has not yet developed a clear plan to remove the audit qualifications and deliver its accounts to a pre-summer recess timetable. The Department has prepared its accounts in exceptional circumstances for the past two years. It laid its 2021–22 Annual Report and Accounts on 26 January 2022, five days ahead of the statutory deadline, and as in 2020–21, they were heavily qualified by the C&AG. For 2022–23, it plans to bring forward its laying of its Annual Report and Accounts in Parliament before the 2023 Christmas recess but there are a number of challenges in doing this. It is imperative that the Departments accounts delivery get Type: conclusion | Number: 5 | Response status: accepted Government response: The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. largely addressed the root causes of ongoing qualifications, mainly through the provision of audit evidence for consumables inventories in the Core Department and Agencies’ and Group’s Statement of Financial Po