Government fellows given time to provide formal account (9)
I believe the answer is:
statement
'formal account' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'government fellows given time' is the wordplay.
'government' becomes 'state' (state is a kind of government).
'fellows' becomes 'men' (I've seen this before).
'given' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'time' becomes 't'.
'state'+'men'+'t'='STATEMENT'
'to provide' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for statement that I've seen before include "Proclamation" , "Formal account given to police" , "Bank account document" , "may be taken by police" , "Declaration of facts" .)