The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Skills Funding Agency are pursuing a range of initiatives to simplify funding, qualification and assurance systems in further education. However, they do not know the scale of the problem faced by further education colleges and other providers.
HM Courts Service, the body responsible for the collection of fines, confiscation orders and penalties imposed by the judiciary and police, has been unable to provide proper accounting records supporting those fines, confiscation orders and penalties.
The Department for Transport started its preparations for the 2010 spending review early and took steps to improve and challenge the evidence on which it based its decisions with a view to securing value for money.
The Government has not in general measured the benefits delivered by its two central internet services Directgov and Business.gov, and the infrastructure service Government Gateway, which together cost some £90 million a year.
The Olympic Delivery Authority remains on course to deliver its work on the Olympic Park successfully. But almost all of the Public Sector Funding Package is likely to be required, with little scope for unforeseen costs to emerge in the eight months left.
HM Revenue and Customs will have to make sure its staff have the right skills if the Department is to succeed in cutting its running costs by 25 per cent by 2014-2015 and bringing in each year an extra £7 billion of tax revenue.
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 Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) are the very first audited set of accounts showing in one place the financial position of the whole public sector. However, the NAO considers that the picture is incomplete.
The NAO has today issued a supplementary report on the Carrier Strike project, having been given access to briefing papers held by the National Security Secretariat in the Cabinet Office.
Despite the fact that the Defra has made improvements in its financial management, the NAO cannot yet conclude that the Department is achieving value for money in its financial management activity.
The EHRC has made significant improvements in its financial management leading the Comptroller and Auditor General to issue an unqualified audit opinion on its 2010-11 accounts.
Financial management at the Ministry of Justice has improved considerably since the National Audit Office last examined this subject in 2010. However, in some important areas, such as income collection, the Ministry still has a great deal to do.
Action taken by the Ministry of Defence to balance its overall budget in the short term following the Strategic Defence and Security Review has contributed to a near £500 million in-year cost increase in the 15 largest defence projects.
The programme to increase online filing of tax returns has made significant progress, but HMRC needs a better understanding of the benefits and costs to customers and how its online filing costs compare to those for paper returns.
DFID is successfully reaching particularly poor people with transfers, but needs to focus more on how cost-effectively they are delivered.
Course outcomes for young people aged 16-25 receiving special educational support are improving. However, a lack of understanding of the relationship between needs, costs and outcomes can lead to students not getting the right support, and risks compromising value for money.
An initiative to cut the amount of paperwork in prosecution files can reduce the time burden on police forces. But there are wide differences between individual police forces in how far they are complying with the guidance and lack of awareness among police officers about what to include in prosecution files.
A report on the BBC’s progress to date in delivering efficiency savings required by the BBC Trust following the 2007 licence fee settlement.
Giving greater responsibility and discretion to local authorities to identify flood risk and target investment raises significant challenges, especially during a time of budget cuts and other newly devolved responsibilities. Greater value for money can be achieved through these reforms, but key elements of what is required are not yet in place.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, Amyas Morse, has qualified the 2010-11 accounts of the Legal Services Commission.