The House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts produced a report on the budget for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, to investigate the reasons for budget increases announced by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The following extracts, describing the problem and making a recommendation, are from the report.
At the time of London’s bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012 the cost of the Games was estimated to be just over £4 billion. The costs were to be met by public sector funding of £3.4 billion, with a further £738 million from the private sector. After London was awarded the Games, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Olympic Delivery Authority reviewed the cost estimates and in March 2007 announced a budget of £9.325 billion. The Department has stated that public sector funding will not exceed this figure (p. 3).
Despite the £5.9 billion increase in the public funding for the Games, the Department has not specified what will be delivered in return for this expenditure and the current budget cannot be reconciled to the commitments in the original bid. To provide a clear basis for accountability, the Department should:
l publishes a statement of what will be delivered, including the legacy plans and benefits for the programme as a whole; l provides an assessment of progress against that baseline in its annual reports to Parliament; and l show how any subsequent changes to the plans reconcile to the baseline and support them with a clear audit trail (p. 5).

Discussion points

 1 How does the recommendation help with a basic description of the preparation of a budget?
2 How does the recommendation help with a basic description of how to continue monitoring the budget plan?