Accounting officer assessments: collection
This is a collection page for Accounting Officer Assessments.
From April 2017, an accounting officer assessment should always be produced for projects or programmes which form part of the Government’s Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP), and a summary of the key points from the assessment should be published.
Such assessments should be produced initially in principle at an early point, then again as appropriate in more detail at suitable strategic points as the policy or proposal is developed. In practice, that means:
• alongside the request for the Accounting Officer’s approval of the Outline Business Case (or at the point when it enters the GMPP if this is later)
• at subsequent stages of the project if it departs from the four standards or the agreed plan – including any contingency – in terms of costs, benefits, timescales, or level of risk, which informed the Accounting Officer’s previous approval
• if the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) of the project decides one is merited at any other stage of the project - SROs should be prepared to defend their decisions to Parliament if challenged, for example, if called to give evidence to the PAC
An accounting officer assessment may also be prepared and published for other significant spending decisions where the accounting officer feels it appropriate to do so. The below links will take you to departmental collection pages of published AO assessments.
The timing of publication will also depend on the public interest test. In many cases it might be possible to publish the summary as soon as the decision to proceed has been made. In other cases, timing might depend on other sensitivities – such as respecting commercial confidentiality, including where disclosing details of ongoing commercial negotiations risks damaging the longer-term value for money of a project, or the need to remain consistent with existing transparency policies.
Accounting Officers should decide whether to publish sooner with less information, or withhold publication until more detail can be given, balancing the public interest and Parliamentary expectations.
Documents
Last updated 9 April 2024 + show all updates
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Added Department for Science, Innovation and Technology major projects: accounting officer assessments.
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Added Department for Energy Security and Net Zero major projects: accounting officer assessments.
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Updated with: Department of Health and Social Care accounting officer assessments.
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Added: Cabinet Office accounting officer assessments
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Added 'Department for Education major programmes: accounting officer assessments'.
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added FCDO major projects accounting officer assessments.
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Government Major Projects Portfolio – Accounting Officer Assessments Ministry of Justice added
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First published.