The Treasury has unveiled plans for a "digital solution" that will enable live sharing of financial, outcome and performance data at both a departmental and programme level.
Chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said this will modernise the way that the government undertakes spending control – giving the exchequer and departments a shared understanding in real time of how they are performing against their budgets and objectives.
The cabinet secretary, Sir Chris Wormald, has written to all secretaries of state and permanent secretaries, setting out his expectation that they should be accountable for ensuring their departments’ financial and performance systems are fully integrated with Treasury systems at the conclusion of the project.
Jones said this is part of wide ranging reforms to modernise the architecture of public spending, improve levels of delegation and reduce the burden of compliance reporting that the Treasury currently requests from departments.
He added that it will be “a key contribution to our ambition of an agile and productive state” and “take government and public spending towards a new technology-enabled operation”.
Jones explained the changes in a letter to Public Accounts Committee chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown sent on 11 June, the day of the Spending Review, but published it yesterday. The letter also copied in all chairs of select committees and the head of the National Audit Office.
The letter said all departments would be begin feasibility work for the initiative, which will include an audit of their current systems and data approaches, following the Spending Review.
Jones said the Treasury is working with the Cabinet Office to ensure the new system aligns with the Shared Services Strategy for Government and wider functional system reform and will deliver the change in line with the government’s agreed principles for civil service reform.
He added that departments are being encouraged to support the Treasury and the Cabinet Office “to understand what improvements to delegations, conditions and reporting requirements could be made to improve government delivery”.