The Community Care Grant has an important role in helping vulnerable people to establish themselves in the community and in easing pressure on families. The scheme is designed to be flexible so that it can provide help in good time to those who need it but the scheme as currently designed does not deliver value for money.
Against a backdrop of increasing pressure on NHS finances, NHS England has not controlled the rising cost of specialised services.
Explore the results of our surveys of NHS acute hospitals and clinical commissioning groups, showing their views on NHS England’s commissioning of specialised services.
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported today on the support provided to MG Rover by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and other public bodies before and during the Company’s collapse in 2005, and on the effectiveness of plans to deal with and mitigate the consequences of the firm’s closure. […]
The update looks at how the centre of government’s role has evolved in response to austerity, examines recent developments such as how the leadership of functions and professions has been brought together under the new Chief Executive of the Civil Service.
This report draws together insights from our previous reports and those of the PAC on the role of, and recent changes to, the centre of government. The centre of government has responsibility for coordinating and overseeing the work of government, enabling it to achieve its strategic aims and ensuring there is a central view of the effective operation of government as a whole. Most of these strategic functions are performed by the Cabinet Office and the Treasury.
The Care Quality Commission had a difficult task in establishing itself and has not so far achieved value for money in regulating the quality and safety of health and adult social care in England.
The Carbon Trust helped UK businesses and public sector organisations reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by up to an estimated two million tonnes in 2006-07 according to a report out today by the National Audit Office. And its support of emerging low carbon technologies could lead to further sizeable reductions in the future. The Carbon […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that the failure to introduce the Benefits Payment Card had cost the Department of Social Security some £127 million in nugatory system development. Delays in the Card programme, which was part of a pioneering Private Finance Initiative (PFI) project designed also to […]
The approach to reducing the cost of regulation is set up to ensure that government can hit a £10bn target but misses the point by not truly reducing costs on businesses.
The Building Schools for the Future programme aims to rebuild, refurbish and provide new Information Technology for all 3,500 secondary schools in England by 2020. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) underestimated how long it would take to launch the programme and build the schools, though the speed of delivery has compared well […]
The process for setting the London 2012 Games budget has been thorough, the National Audit Office says today, but the level of public funding has increased greatly, and significant areas of uncertainty remain including the finalisation of the design of venues and the intended wider benefits. These are the main findings in a new report […]
Sir John Bourn, Head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today that the British Library is responding well to the opportunities and challenges of providing services in the electronic era, that the Library has undergone significant and beneficial organisational change, and that it has made important recent improvements to the services that it offers […]
This report provides an update on the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
The Border Force has successfully implemented full passenger checks and cut queuing times but at the cost of maintaining other aspects of border security.
The BBC is the UK’s main public service broadcaster, responsible for serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain
The report examines whether to inform decisions across the BBC, the Corporation efficiently, effectively and economically understands how people use and respond to the full range of its services.