Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 2 April 2025 to Question 41289 on Arms Length Bodies: Parliamentary Scrutiny, through which mechanisms (a) public corporations and (b) private companies owned by the Government are accountable to Parliament.

Detail on arrangements for Parliamentary accountability and governance of government companies and public corporations are set out in Annex 7.3 of Managing Public Money.

The precise arrangements will vary from body to body, but will be set out in each body’s framework document, or equivalent, which describes the governance arrangements between the body and its sponsor government department. Framework documents are published on GOV.UK, along with guidance on their use and standard templates for each type of body: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/framework-documents-collection

In general, accountability to Parliament will be via the ministers of a public corporation’s sponsor department and, if that body is subject to the rules set out in Managing Public Money, through the public corporation’s accounting officer or accountable person.

Private companies owned by the Government, where they do not meet the classification standards for a public corporation, are instead classified by the ONS as part of central government. They are financially consolidated into their sponsor department and accountable to Parliament in the same manner as any other non-departmental public body.

Ministers of a central government company’s sponsor department are responsible for the body in the house; and the most senior executive in the company as an Accounting Officer is directly accountable to Parliament via the Public Accounts Committee for the use of public funds.

Public corporation status is formally determined by the Office for National Statistics on the basis of international economic statistical standards. Public corporations are generally self-funding and do not normally receive funding voted by Parliament. This category covers a significant range of bodies with differing levels of government control and not all bodies classified as public corporations are owned by the Government. They are subject to levels of control deemed appropriate by the relevant sponsor department, agreed via their framework document, and approved by the Treasury.