22.07.16
Hunt accused of ‘underhand attempt’ to cover-up poor DH finances
The decision by the Department of Health to only publish its accounts the day before Parliament goes on recess has been robustly criticised by the head of the committee which scrutinises government spending.
Meg Hillier MP, chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), wrote to Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, to express her “dismay” at the publication of the department’s accounts and annual report yesterday.
She said: “This does not allow MPs to consider the accounts before recess and smacks of an underhand attempt to cover up the poor state of finances in your department.”
The accounts showed that the department overspent its Treasury controls by £0.1bn and Sir Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, said that it only avoided worse problems through one-off windfalls and raids on the capital budget which will store up problems for the future.
The department was only able to avoid exceeding its voted resource budget because of an unexpected additional £417m from National Insurance contributions.
Hillier criticised Hunt for failing to notify the Treasury about this decision, saying it meant Parliament had not been able to consider whether to reduce the funding it voted to give the department.
Hillier copied the letter to John Bercow MP, speaker of the House of Commons; Dr Sarah Wollaston MP, head of the Health Select Committee; and Andrew Tyrie MP, chair of the Treasury Select Committee; and the Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir Amyas Morse.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health said: “Local authorities will have more money — up to £3.5bn extra — for adult social care by 2019-20 and by 2020 we will be investing an extra £10bn a year so the NHS can introduce its own plan for the future and help fewer people go to hospital in the first place.”
(Image c. Dominic Lipinski from PA Wire and Press Association Images)
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