The National Audit Office has recently published two reports on the Spending Review 2015 and Government's management of its performance: progress with single departmental plans. These cover two key elements of the way government plans and manages its business: the mechanism for HM Treasury and departments to agree the high-level financial plans for the parliament; and the latest approach to planning and reporting on departments' objectives and performance.
The reports have found that there have been improvements in these important elements of the way government currently plans and manages public sector activity, but overall the NAO does not consider that there exists the coherent, enduring framework for planning and management that government needs.
A strong, enduring, integrated framework for planning into the medium-term and beyond would allow any government to: make achievable plans; know whether it is on track, adjust its approach where necessary; and provide clear accountability to Parliament. While government considers that it has in place effective arrangements, albeit with room for improvement, it is the NAO's view that the set of current processes and guidance do not add up to such a framework, and the effects can be seen in examples of poor value for money and a lack of long-term, joined-up thinking.
The challenge for the UK cannot be underestimated, given the scale and complexity of government, and the additional requirements of exit from the European Union. In the NAO's view, however, this makes achieving that shift all the more urgent.