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The Committee of Public Accounts scrutinises the reasons behind individual Departments exceeding their allocated resources and reports to the House of Commons on whether it has any objection to making good the reported excesses.
In 2009-10, the Statistics Board breached its cash limit by £251,000. The Government Actuary's Department incurred excesses in the use of resources totalling £747,000, leading to a breach of the Administration Budget by £741,000. The Government Actuary's Department also incurred an excess of £67,000 in its voted cash limit. More specifically:
- The Statistics Board breached its voted Net Cash Requirement limit by £251,000 through weaknesses in its cash management system resulting in a payment to suppliers being authorised at the year end when the Statistics Board's cash limit had already been reached.
- The Government Actuary's Department breached its Net Cash Requirement by £67,000 through a combination of unexpected payments due to an ex-employee under the injury benefit scheme, and to the misalignment of cash management with the working capital requirements of the growing business. It also incurred excess resources of £747,000 as a result of having to provide for future liabilities in respect of the injury benefit award. This excess use of resource also led to a breach of the Administration Budget by £741,000.
In the context of the recent Comprehensive Spending Review, strong and effective financial management and control are more important than ever for government departments if they are to avoid exceeding their resource limits. Nevertheless, on the basis of our examination of the reasons why the Statistics Board and the Government Actuary's Department exceeded their voted provisions for 2009-10, we have no objection to Parliament providing the necessary amounts by means of an Excess Vote.
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