The Rural Payments Agency and DEFRA have shown scant regard to protecting public money in their administration and management of the EU’s Single Payment Scheme in England, according to the National Audit Office. The IT system does not meet the scheme’s needs, the cost of processing claims, already very high, has continued to increase and […]
At a cost of £1.47 billion by March 2009, Train to Gain had supported employer-focused training for over one million learners, and had developed a skills brokerage service with which a majority of employers was satisfied. But while Train to Gain has achieved undoubted benefits for employers, the NAO has concluded that over its full […]
The National Audit Office has reported today that Government departments and local health and social care organisations do not have enough information on numbers of adults with autism. They also lack a full understanding and awareness of the condition, limiting their ability to plan and deliver services effectively. Autism, which includes Asperger syndrome, is a […]
A National Audit Office report has found that government has strengthened its drive to purchase more environmentally sustainable goods and services. In 2005 the government set a target to be recognised by 2009 as one of the leaders in the EU in sustainable procurement. However a number of departments are not yet on course to […]
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has successfully tackled recent outbreaks of Avian Influenza and Foot and Mouth Disease in livestock, concludes a National Audit Office report today. But in regions where diseases or parasites have become well established within the country, such as Bovine Tuberculosis affecting cattle or the Varroa mite affecting […]
The Department of Energy and Climate Change’s Warm Front Scheme to tackle fuel poverty in England helped to improve the energy efficiency of over 635,000 households between June 2005 and March 2008. According to a report by the National Audit Office there were, however, 1.9 million vulnerable households in 2006, so this rate of progress […]
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has recently made considerable progress in increasing the number and size of local authority projects to procure new waste treatment facilities under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). But, according to a National Audit Office report today, the Department was initially too slow to respond to the 1999 […]
Increased spending has been accompanied by an improvement in the condition of England’s Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), according to a report released today by the National Audit Office. The assessment of the condition of SSSIs, however, has fallen behind and there is a risk that Natural England is not detecting all sites that […]
Holding managers to account for the resources they have been allocated is key to improving financial management at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, according to a report out today by the National Audit Office. This need has been recognised by the Department and reflected in a programme to improve its financial management, […]
The Jobcentre Plus programme rolled out a network of over 800 offices, combining the functions of the former jobcentres and social security offices, and was completed for £314 million less than the original £2.2 billion budget according to a National Audit Office report released today. The project was well managed, particularly the procurement aspect, where […]
The NAO has reported today that, despite some progress, there is still a significant gap between the employment rate for the ethnic minority population and that for the general population which could take thirty years to eliminate. The Department for Work and Pensions’ strategy to tackle this has had some success, but in the NAO’s […]
The Rural Payments Agency has made good progress, but still has more to do to resolve all the problems it experienced in administering the 2005 EU single payment scheme to farmers in England, according to a report by the National Audit Office. It succeeded in meeting the June 2007 deadline for paying claims under the […]
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 […]
Government-led initiatives to help unemployed people find work are having a real impact. Programmes such as the New Deal have helped reduce the number of people on benefit, and the average length of claims. However, too many people still do not stay in work once they have found it and more now needs to be […]