Committee publication · Correspondence · 13 November 2025
Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office to the Chair relating to the Committee’s inquiry into Identifying costs: Government Services, 04 November 2025
From: Public Accounts Committee
Inquiry: Government services: Identifying costs and generating income
Summary
Catherine Little, Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, responds to the Public Accounts Committee's inquiry into identifying costs of government services. She outlines the updated Social Value Model (PPN002, February 2025) which standardises procurement policy across central government with new emphasis on fair work standards. She declines to introduce a centralised policy for tracking civil service time allocation, arguing existing departmental reporting structures are more effective for the Civil Service's diverse roles.
Key findings
- Updated Procurement Policy Note PPN002 (February 2025) aligns social value outcomes with Government's five Missions and includes new fair work section covering fair wages, working conditions, and in-work progression
- Social Value Model provides standardised menu of procurement outcomes, evaluation criteria, and reporting metrics to remove barriers for SMEs and VCSEs across central government
- Cabinet Office rejects introduction of common government-wide policy for capturing how civil servants spend their time, citing departmental autonomy and existing reporting structures
- Civil Service already reports annually through departmental reports containing full activity costs, asset information, and workforce planning exercises tailored to departmental delivery priorities
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
Catherine Little, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Cabinet Office, Public Accounts Committee, Civil Service
Notable line
“… rather than introducing a new central policy for capturing how civil servants spend their time, we are focusing on leveraging the existing departmental governance and reporting structures.”
Key Quotes
“An updated Social Value Model, published in February 2025 as Procurement Policy Note 002, aligns with the Government's five Missions and the National Procurement Policy Statement.”
“… rather than introducing a new central policy for capturing how civil servants spend their time, we are focusing on leveraging the existing departmental governance and reporting structures.”
“The Social Value Model aims to standardise the approach across central government and remove barriers for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community, and social enterprises”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗