Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of central government departments and their arm’s-length bodies submitted their financial accounts to the National Audit Office by the statutory deadline in each of the past 10 financial years.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government does not hold or monitor data on when departments and their arm’s-length bodies submit their accounts to the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG).

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are (1) the original target, and (2) current forecast, for the uptake of metering and monitoring service packages under the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive scheme; how many packages have been allocated in each year since introduction; and what evaluation has been undertaken of their effectiveness in identifying underperformance or non-compliance.

Answered by Baroness Curran

The Metering and Monitoring Service Package (MMSP) was designed to support participants and installers on the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive to understand how heating systems are working in specific households and not to serve as a compliance tool. This was an optional measure for participants and was demand driven with 11,255 packages available in total. Ofgem's published data indicates that 3,530 applications were approved as of September 2023, with information for the preceding years attached.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many site audits were conducted under the (1) Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive, and (2) Non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive, schemes in each year since 2014; and of these, how many took place in each nation and region of Great Britain, disaggregated for England, Scotland and Wales, and by Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS1 or NUTS2) regions or the most detailed regional classification used by Ofgem for audit reporting.

Answered by Baroness Curran

The Domestic and Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive schemes are administered by Ofgem on behalf of the government. Given the nature of the data requested, Ofgem will write to the noble Lord and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether Ofgem’s compliance audits for the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive and the Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive are selected through a randomised, stratified, risk-weighted or quota-based sampling methodology; and what statistical confidence level is used when extrapolating fraud and error rates to the wider scheme.

Answered by Baroness Curran

The Domestic and Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive schemes each benefit from two audit programmes annually. They include both randomised and risk weighted methodologies with the ability to consider internal or external referrals. A 95% confidence level is currently applied when extrapolating fraud and error rates for the non-domestic scheme and 90% is applied for the domestic scheme.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive and (2) Non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive scheme participants have been subject to repeat compliance investigations or site audits since 2014; and what is the total cumulative value of overpayments identified for these cases.

Answered by Baroness Curran

The Domestic and Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive schemes are administered by Ofgem on behalf of the government. Given the nature of the data requested, Ofgem will write to the noble Lord and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to page 20 of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s Annual Report and Accounts 2023–24, whether the decision to increase expenditure by £181 million through reprofiling quality-related funding complied with the departmental expenditure limit control rules and ringfence restrictions in the Consolidated Budgeting Guidance 2023–24; and if not, whether Treasury consent was obtained in line with paragraph 2.52 of that guidance.

Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The reprofiling of quality-related funding payments to higher education institutions in 2023-24 complied fully with DSIT’s departmental expenditure limit control rules and Consolidated Budgeting Guidance. No payments in advance of need were made and spending across the DSIT portfolio remained within departmental control totals despite the reprofile, which is designed to ensure effective utilisation of R&D budgets within and across financial years.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government why the section on "Best Practice Disclosures—Diversity and Inclusion" of The Government Financial Reporting Manual 2024–25 contains no reference to the mandatory disclosure of external equality, diversity and inclusion spending set out in the Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance published by the Cabinet Office on 14 May 2024; and whether they will revise the Financial Reporting Manual to ensure that departments are aware that they are required to report such expenditure in their annual reports and accounts.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Expenditure Guidance was issued by the Conservative government in May 2024 without due consideration of the standard procedure for incorporating requirements into annual reports and accounts. These requirements were not included in the Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM).

After the publication of the guidance, it was decided that the FReM would not be revised to include mandatory disclosure of external EDI expenditure as such disclosures are unlikely to be financially material.

In line with the current policy, the Cabinet Office intends to publish 2024-25 external EDI spend at the end of the reporting cycle. The Government will keep the FReM under review and will consider any future updates to reporting requirements in light of evolving guidance and policy.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following their press release of 15 May 2025 "Covid fraud investigations to be led by Insolvency Service", whether they will place in the Library of the House a copy of the internal review into the performance and governance of the National Investigation Service.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The internal review is connected to the initial report by the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA), confirming concerns regarding NATIS governance and recoveries reporting. This process is ongoing. Once the GIAA process is complete, we will assess the report's contents, and will provide further information at the appropriate time.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many installations accredited under the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive reported zero metered heat generation in each of the past two scheme years; and what was the total value of public subsidy paid to these installations in each year.

Answered by Baroness Curran

The Domestic and Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive schemes are administered by Ofgem on behalf of the government. Given the nature of the data requested, Ofgem will write to the noble Lord and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

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