The government debt management function (GDMF) has been moved from the Cabinet Office to HM Treasury, the prime minister has announced.
The machinery of government change means the function now sits alongside the government finance function at the Treasury.
Announcing the move in a ministerial statement, Rishi Sunak said: “This will improve the management of debt owed to the government and provide strong expertise and leadership for the public servants in its profession.”
The GDMF has around 8,000 public servants who work across more than 20 ministerial departments and arm's-length bodies to resolve outstanding debt.
In the ministerial statement, the PM also announced that ministerial responsibility for the Fraud Act (2006) has been moved from the Ministry of Justice to the Home Office.
Sunak said this will “enable a single department to hold responsibility for policy and legislation relating to fraud against individuals and businesses, enabling the Home Office to best tackle fraud and reduce inefficiencies”.
The Home Office will continue to liaise with the Public Sector Fraud Authority, which sits across Cabinet Office and the Treasury, on tackling fraud.
Both machinery of government changes took effect on 30 March.
In another transfer of responsibility, the Government Internal Audit Agency has announced that the Ministry of Defence’s internal audit team will today move over to the GIAA.
This means the agency will now provide internal audit services to 15 of the 17 UK central government main departments, as well as around 130 other government organisations.
The government wants GIAA to become the sole provider of internal audit and counter-fraud services to central departments.
GIAA said the transfer of the MoD team is “an important step in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of internal audit across central government”.
Elizabeth Honer, the GIAA’s chief executive, said: “Today marks an important milestone in GIAA’s mission to add value and insight to government which leads to better outcomes for departments and the taxpayer. I am delighted to welcome MoD on board.
“Our model of a truly pan-government service aims to eliminate duplication and bring the benefits of increased investment, economies of scale and improved resilience to our customers and wider government. As our size and reach across government grows, so too does our ability to specialise and innovate, further improving the range of services and quality of the insight we offer.”f