Recommendations
Every report of the Audit Office of the Velocity Interoperability Network makes recommendations to the departments and network services it examined. The Office keeps a register of every recommendation, the response of the body to which it is addressed and the date by which the body undertook to act, and reviews progress six and twelve months after publication. The register is published on this page and updated whenever a response is received or a review is completed.
The six reports published on 6 September 2026 made 24 recommendations. Responses to 22 of them were given by the bodies concerned during the clearance of the draft reports. The two recommendations recorded as under consideration are addressed to the Treasury Department and the Procurement Office, whose responses are due by 18 October 2026.
- 24
- Recommendations made in the six reports published on 6 September 2026
- 19
- Accepted in full by the body to which they are addressed
- 3
- Accepted in part, with an alternative course of action proposed
- 2
- Under consideration, with a response due by 18 October 2026
Register of recommendations. Recommendations are numbered by the report in which they were made. The full text of each recommendation and the reasoning behind it is set out in the report concerned, listed on the Audit Reports page.
| Reference | Report | Recommendation | Addressed to | Response | Due date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R-01-1 | 2026-01 | Reconcile each of the 31 transferred asset registers to the opening balance sheet of the Network. | Treasury Department | Accepted | 31 December 2026 |
| R-01-2 | 2026-01 | Trace, write off or re-value the 214 asset records that could not be traced to a physical asset or a supporting document. | Treasury Department | Accepted | 31 December 2026 |
| R-01-3 | 2026-01 | Obtain written confirmation of the liabilities transferred from each of the nine member organisations that had not confirmed them. | Treasury Department | Accepted | 30 November 2026 |
| R-01-4 | 2026-01 | Adopt a single asset register for the Network, maintained by each department to a common standard. | Treasury Department | Accepted | 31 March 2027 |
| R-02-1 | 2026-02 | Complete the review of user access in the four departments whose accounting systems went live without one. | Departments concerned | Accepted | 31 October 2026 |
| R-02-2 | 2026-02 | Adopt a single chart of accounts across all departments before the first consolidation. | Treasury Department | Accepted in part | 31 March 2027 |
| R-02-3 | 2026-02 | Reconcile every departmental accounting system to the general ledger of the Network each month. | Treasury Department; all departments | Accepted | 31 October 2026 |
| R-02-4 | 2026-02 | Test the recovery arrangements of every departmental accounting system. | All departments | Accepted | 31 December 2026 |
| R-02-5 | 2026-02 | Remove the 63 generic and shared user accounts identified in departmental systems. | Departments concerned | Accepted | 31 October 2026 |
| R-03-1 | 2026-03 | Obtain a signed contract of employment for each of the 1,120 staff whose record lacks one. | Civil Service Commission | Accepted | 30 September 2026 |
| R-03-2 | 2026-03 | Separate the entry and the approval of payroll changes in the seven departments where one officer may do both. | Departments concerned | Accepted | 31 October 2026 |
| R-03-3 | 2026-03 | Reconcile the payroll to the approved staff establishment of each department before each pay run. | Treasury Department | Accepted | 30 September 2026 |
| R-03-4 | 2026-03 | Confirm the payment details of every transferred employee by an independent check before the first pay run. | Treasury Department | Accepted | 30 September 2026 |
| R-04-1 | 2026-04 | Establish a central estate register recording every lease, its term, its rent and the department occupying the premises. | Interior Department | Accepted | 31 December 2026 |
| R-04-2 | 2026-04 | Obtain and hold centrally the 28 leases whose terms could not be confirmed. | Interior Department | Accepted | 30 November 2026 |
| R-04-3 | 2026-04 | Complete inventories of furniture and equipment at the 41 premises where they were incomplete. | Interior Department; departments concerned | Accepted | 31 December 2026 |
| R-05-1 | 2026-05 | Constitute a board or governing committee for each of the 13 network services without one. | Network services concerned | Accepted | 31 December 2026 |
| R-05-2 | 2026-05 | Appoint an audit committee with an independent chair for every network service. | All network services | Accepted in part | 31 March 2027 |
| R-05-3 | 2026-05 | Publish a scheme of delegation for every department, stating who may commit expenditure and to what limit. | All departments | Accepted in part | 31 December 2026 |
| R-05-4 | 2026-05 | Require every network service to publish an annual report and accounts within six months of the year end. | Treasury Department | Under consideration | To be confirmed |
| R-06-1 | 2026-06 | Regularise or re-let the 37 contracts awarded during the transition without competition and without a recorded justification. | Procurement Office; departments concerned | Accepted | 31 January 2027 |
| R-06-2 | 2026-06 | Report to the Assembly the eight contracts that exceeded the interim thresholds, with the reasons. | Procurement Office | Accepted | 31 October 2026 |
| R-06-3 | 2026-06 | Require a recorded justification, approved by the accounting officer, for every award made without competition. | Procurement Office | Accepted | 31 October 2026 |
| R-06-4 | 2026-06 | Publish a register of every contract above the reporting threshold, updated monthly. | Procurement Office | Under consideration | To be confirmed |
Where a recommendation has been accepted in part, the body has proposed an alternative course of action. The Treasury Department will adopt a common mapping of the five existing charts of accounts for the Network's first accounts rather than a single chart, which it will introduce from 1 April 2027. The smaller network services propose to share audit committees between groups of services rather than each appoint its own. Fourteen departments have undertaken to publish a scheme of delegation by 31 December 2026; twelve had already done so at establishment. The Office regards each of these alternatives as adequate for the present and will review them at six months.
How a recommendation is followed up. The five stages below apply to every recommendation the Office makes.
Step 1: Response
The body to which a recommendation is addressed states whether it accepts it in full, accepts it in part or rejects it, and gives the date by which it will act. A response is normally given during clearance of the draft report; where it is not, it is due within six weeks of publication. A rejection must give reasons, which are published.
Step 2: Registration
Every recommendation, the response and the due date are entered in the register on this page on the day the report is published. Where a body accepts a recommendation in part, the alternative course of action it proposes is recorded, and the Office states whether it regards the alternative as adequate.
Step 3: Review at six months
Six months after publication the Office asks the body for evidence of the action taken. It examines the evidence, which may include a short visit, and records each recommendation as implemented, in progress or not started.
Step 4: Review at twelve months and closure
Twelve months after publication the Office repeats the review. A recommendation is closed when the Office is satisfied that it has been implemented, or when the risk it addressed no longer exists. A recommendation still open after twelve months is reported to the Assembly by name.
Step 5: Reporting to the Assembly
The Office's annual report to the Network Assembly states, for every report published, how many recommendations were made, accepted, implemented and outstanding, and names the bodies whose recommendations remain open after twelve months.
Bodies responding to a recommendation, or supplying evidence of action taken, should write to contact@audit.gov.vin quoting the reference number. For the audits from which further recommendations will arise, see the Audit Programme; for the clearance process during which responses are sought, see How We Audit.