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The future of government offices: early lessons

• Posted on September 29, 2017 by Paul Wright-Anderson

  Government is being transformed through changes ranging from digital delivery to downsizing and devolution. To match new delivery approaches, buildings need modernisation, organisations need to be co-located, and appealing locations should help to attract the necessary skills. In response, government property is undergoing a revolution, with regional “Hubs” and an integrated public sector estate. But there are big challenges to be addressed. Can the public sector work together to achieve the expected benefits? more… The future of government offices: early lessons

  Tagged with: Business operations  Contract management  Cost reduction  Cross-government  Employee engagement  Property  Public sector reform  Risk management  Shared services  Skills
  

Managing conflicts of interest and keeping public trust

• Posted on August 18, 2017 by Jacob Holliday

  High profile incidents remind individuals and organisations just how important it is to manage potential conflicts of interest. In March 2017, the Court of the Bank of England commissioned a review of the institution’s approach to managing conflicts of interest. The review was prompted by the resignation of Charlotte Hogg who had been Deputy Governor for Markets and Banking. A report from the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee published in March 2017 had raised concerns about her compliance with the Bank’s rules governing conflicts of interest. As part of its Review the Bank invited the NAO to contribute a briefing paper on managing conflicts of interest. It’s a timely opportunity for the whole public sector to consider whether it’s managing conflicts of interest effectively. more… Managing conflicts of interest and keeping public trust

  Tagged with: Accountability  Business operations  Conflict of interest  Contract management  Cross-government  Employee engagement  Good practice principles  International  Investigations  Local government  Regulation & consumer protection  Reporting  Risk management
  

Stretching civil servants’ capability

• Posted on July 20, 2017 by George Crockford

  The civil service is under pressure, as we found in our recent report Capability in the Civil Service. It has lost one in four civil servants since 2006 – with no reduction in workload, there’s a growing number of major projects to implement, greater public demand for services, new technologies – bringing both opportunities and threats, new ways of delivering public services, and action needed to leave the European Union. How can public sector organisations get or develop the people and skills they need? The first thing is: prioritise; it simply must do less. more… Stretching civil servants’ capability

  Tagged with: Brexit  Business operations  Civil service capability  Contract management  Digital transformation  Leadership  Major projects  Project management  Risk management  Skills
  

Lessons in fraud prevention, detection and recovery

• Posted on July 13, 2017 by Alison Taylor

  Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is lost every year through fraud. To put this money to its proper use, in the report Eliminating Public Sector Fraud, the government identified the need to adopt a zero tolerance culture and a coordinated approach to tackling fraud. But fraud is complex and many organisations lack the required skills, making it even more important that public sector organisations collaborate, innovate and share lessons. Our recent Investigation into Department for International Development’s approach to tackling fraud has lessons for all organisations seeking to tackle fraud, as well as exploring some of the challenges in delivering international aid. more… Lessons in fraud prevention, detection and recovery

  Tagged with: Accountability  Cost reduction  Cross-government  Fraud and error  Good practice principles  International  Investigations  Overseas aid  Process management  Public finances  Reporting  Risk management
  

NAO Investigates

• Posted on July 7, 2017 by Lee Summerfield

  MPs have queried the way grants are distributed; multiple programme changes have left many questioning aims and effectiveness; growing backlogs have raised issues about public service delivery; and failed contracts losing millions of pounds have implied serious mismanagement. Concerns raised by MPs, members of the public and our own staff as a result of their work often need the facts set out – clearly and quickly. They call for an NAO ‘Investigation’. more… NAO Investigates

  Tagged with: Accountability  Business operations  Contract management  International  Investigations  Local government  Performance management  Project management  Public finances
  

Can better service bring in more tax revenue? How the NAO is helping government investigate

• Posted on June 29, 2017 by Andy Morrison

  Do you pay all the tax you should? Chances are, this depends on your values, your familiarity with tax rules, opportunities for evasion, and your attitudes. These may be affected by how much help you get from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) – and could potentially be influenced by how happy you are with HMRC’s service. In our recent report on The quality of service for personal taxpayers, we said we would work with HMRC to explore whether service quality affects tax revenues. The way we have done this is a great example of how the NAO can help to drive public service improvement. more… Can better service bring in more tax revenue? How the NAO is helping government investigate

  Tagged with: Behaviour change  Customer service  Impacts  Influencing  Information management  Performance management  Tax
  

WannaCry: what does it mean for government?

• Posted on June 23, 2017 by Tom McDonald

  WannaCry, the 12th of May global cyber attack, brought home clearly one of the key cyber security risks to government services: loss of access to data. This ransomware attack didn’t target the NHS, but the NHS was particularly affected by it, causing extensive disruption to patients and healthcare for a week. With digital transformation of public services a key government priority, what lessons from this episode can the government learn to protect public services from cyber attacks? more… WannaCry: what does it mean for government?

  Tagged with: Accountability  Cyber security  Devolution  Digital transformation  Fraud and error  IT  Process management  Regulation & consumer protection  Risk management  Skills
  

Excellence in Public Sector Reporting and the Election break

• Posted on April 27, 2017 by Administrator

  The NAO Blog must take a break in the period before the General Election. Meanwhile, we would like to highlight our interactive guide to Good practice from the ‘Excellence in Reporting’ in the Public Sector Award, sponsored by the NAO and part of the wider PwC-sponsored Building Public Trust in Corporate Reporting Awards. Kate Mathers, one of our Executive Leaders, sits on the judging panel for the public sector awards. We set out below the criteria for which we looked. Our publication provides examples of good practice from the 50 reports we reviewed. more… Excellence in Public Sector Reporting and the Election break

  Tagged with: Accountability  Cross-government  Good practice principles  Impacts  Information management  International  Local government  Performance management  Public finances  Reporting
  

Intelligent contract competition and risk management

• Posted on April 7, 2017 by Emma Willson

  When it comes to public sector contracts, running proper competitions simply isn’t enough. Government needs to act intelligently to take advantage of competition between potential suppliers, weighing up options and considering who carries the risks, and at what cost. Since launching Commercial and contract management – insights and emerging best practice we’ve reported on two contracts that shed further light on these issues. We explore the new insights from these reports in this blog-post, the latest in our series on key issues for contracts and commercial relationships. more… Intelligent contract competition and risk management

  Tagged with: Contract insights series  Contract management  Cross-government  Forecasting  Good practice principles  International  Local government  Performance management  Project management  Public finances  Risk management
  

Whistleblowing good practice

• Posted on March 30, 2017 by Bob Shambler

  Mark Felt’s exposure of the Watergate scandal brought down President Nixon; Julie Bailey’s campaign led to the investigation into the failings of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust; Sherron Watkins’ exposure of the Enron scandal led to wider questioning of US company accounting practices and contributed to new accounting and accountability laws. Whistleblowing plays a crucial role in transparency, provides a highly valuable early warning system for organisations and drives a wide range of improvements. Would you know how to whistleblow? Would you feel safe from reprisal? The NAO has put out a series of reports on whistleblowing, and I recently drew on these to share the UK’s experience of whistleblowing arrangements at a Mexican conference on international best practice. more… Whistleblowing good practice

  Tagged with: Accountability  Amyas Morse  Cross-government  Local government  Performance management  Regulation & consumer protection  Whistleblowing