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NAO review of the procurement of Government Advertising

Introductory note

The National Audit Office undertook a review of the procurement of government advertising at the request of the Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts (Edward Leigh MP)[1]. The review focused on whether the Central Office of Information followed Cabinet Office guidance to ensure the propriety of government advertising.

The review was limited in scope in that it did not consider value for money issues and solely considered trend information and propriety issues. The review used Central Office of Information income data, as a proxy for government expenditure, but in so doing recognised the limitations of this data source if attempting to draw any short term conclusions over trends in government advertising[2]. The review considered a significant sample of campaigns run by the Central Office of Information as a means of checking controls over propriety.

At the request of Members of the Committee we have placed our findings on our website:

[1] The review was prepared by National Audit Office staff in response to a request by the Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts and is not a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General to Parliament.

[2] It provides information drawn from the Central Office of Information published sources and operational data. The National Audit Office has used these and other data as published or provided by the Central Office of Information.