Whitehall "skill sets" defended

More government departnents need a professionally-qualified finance director

Wednesday, 20, Feb 2008 12:00

The government has dismissed criticisms from its spending watchdog that Whitehall departments need to improve their financial management.

A report from the National Audit Office (NAO) published today finds six departments do not have a professionally qualified finance director on their main board, breaking a Treasury requirement.

It draws attention to permanent secretaries not holding professional finance qualifications, despite central government managing growing financial resources every year.

Although acknowledging improvements since its 2003 review of financial management the NAO says this may be linked to a lack of progress on forecasting estimates.

NAO chief Tim Burr said: "Tighter financial settlements, the drive for efficiency savings and rising public expectations about the quality of public services mean that there should be no let-up in the government's efforts to extract maximum value from its use of taxpayers’ money."

A Treasury spokesperson said 96 per cent of departments now have a qualified finance director and added there had been a "fairly significant increase in capability" across departments since the 2003 report.

"Many directors hold a range of other key professional qualifications relevant to their department. They have a skill set which further compliments their board," the spokesperson added.

The report voiced wider concerns about a lack of financial knowledge within government, however. It said take-up of finance training courses had been low.

Only 40 per cent of departments provide decision-makers with a full analysis of the financial implications of policy proposals, the NAO continued, while 70 per cent said low levels of skill in non-finance staff was among the "three most significant barriers to improving financial resource management across government".