PILOT EXERCISE FOR MERGED REPORT AND ACCOUNTS

  Thank you for your letter of 19 April about the proposal that the Treasury combine in a single document its 2007 spring departmental annual report with its Resource Accounts for 2006-07. My reply is written on the assumption that you are seeking the agreement of the Treasury Committee before the proposed pilot goes ahead, although your letter does not make this explicit. Our scrutiny of these matters is undertaken by our Sub-Committee and I have therefore consulted Michael Fallon as Chairman of the Sub-Committee before replying.

  We can see advantages in the proposed merger of departmental annual reports and Resource Accounts into a single document. It should lead to a more coherent document which is more helpful for the purposes of parliamentary and public scrutiny. It raises the profile of Resource Accounts in the context of parliamentary scrutiny. It supports the Treasury's ambition of "faster closing" across Government, to which we are sympathetic. In addition, as matters stand, we expect the Sub-Committee's scrutiny of these matters to take place in the Autumn, which means that the delay to the departmental annual report should not unduly affect our preparations for that scrutiny.

  On this basis, we are content to support the proposed pilot in respect of the Treasury in 2007, subject to three points.

  The first is that our agreement is based on publication taking place by mid-June, as you propose; if you inform us of slippage to the publication timetable, we may reconsider our position.

  The second point is that this Select Committee is not the only audience for the documents; there is a wider parliamentary audience, who are entitled to expect to know in advance about the timing of the publication of the departmental annual report. Accordingly, we expect you to publicise the delay to publication of the departmental annual report at an early stage.

  The third point is that we expect you to ensure that there is no diminution in the quality and clarity of information available about the Office of Government Commerce and the Debt Management Office. The Sub-Committee undertakes separate scrutiny of these bodies on a regular basis and, in relation to the Office of Government Commerce in particular, there is limited information available about activities on an annual basis other than that contained in the Treasury's departmental annual report.

  Assuming that you accept these points and that the pilot goes ahead, the Sub-Committee will examine its effects with interest and we will provide any feedback thereafter in an appropriate form.

  I am copying this letter to Michael Fallon.

25 April 2007