Department of Health and Social Care Annual report and accounts 2021-22

Gareth Davies, the Comptroller and Auditor General of the National Audit Office, has reported on the 2021-22 accounts of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), including his qualifications of his audit opinions.

He has qualified his opinion because of insufficient audit evidence to support £1.36bn of consumables inventory. He has also qualified his opinion because he was unable to obtain sufficient evidence to support transactions and balances related to the UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) in the Departmental Group Accounts. He has issued a “disclaimer of opinion” on UKHSA’s own accounts. He has qualified his regularity opinion because a £2.457bn prior period adjustment was made without obtaining parliamentary approval which resulted in a breach of one of DHSC’s parliamentary control totals.