Written question asked by Richard Holden (Conservative) on Tuesday, 25 March 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 27 March 2025. It was answered by Georgia Gould (Labour) on Wednesday, 2 April 2025 on behalf of the Cabinet Office.

Public Expenditure Controls

Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether information about each Department's (a) spending control data and (b) exemptions is held centrally.

Answer

A Prime-Ministerial directive, issued in 2010, mandated all departments to publish details of all spend approvals from the Advertising, Marketing and Communications, Commercial, Contingent Labour, Digital and Technology, and National Property controls on a quarterly basis. The Cabinet Office’s publications are at this link https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-spend-data .

HMT Treasury delegates authority to departments to enter into commitments and spend within predefined limits without specific prior approval. Agreements of any exemptions a body holds from the Spend Controls should be recorded in the department’s delegation letter and in the Framework Document, or similar relationship-defining document, between the body and its sponsor department.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 41113
Session: 2024-26
Subjects: Exemptions Public expenditure controls
Link: View this Written question on www.parliament.uk

Public Expenditure Controls

Secondary information

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