HS2 is a large, complex and ambitious programme which is facing cost and time pressures. The unrealistic timetable set for HS2 Ltd by the Department means they are not as ready to deliver as they hoped to be at this point.
We have published this model to provide guidance to Departments on HMT’s and NAO’s expectations of how they should manage their programmes involving PPP and PFI projects.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has improved the maturity of its financial management in a number of areas, but the NAO has not been able to conclude that the Department is achieving value for money.
This investigation covers how the UK government determines the amount of funding it allocates to the devolved administrations.
Departments have continued to reduce their estates and government is now getting better value for money. The Government Property Unit, however, has not yet made much progress towards its more challenging objective of creating an integrated estate.
The majority of carers who receive benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are satisfied with the support they receive, worth up to £2 billion a year. The Department is delivering carers’ benefits effectively and has made improvements in processing claims in the last few years. But at least a fifth have difficulties […]
The Department has committed electricity consumers and taxpayers to a high cost and risky deal in a changing energy marketplace. We cannot say the Department has maximised the chances that it will achieve value for money.
The National Audit Office and the Audit Commission have today called for public bodies to work together much more effectively than they currently do to maximise savings from procurement activities.
Regulators and government need to work together better to ensure that vulnerable consumers get the support they need.
A report by the NAO into government action to tackle problem drug use has concluded that there has been good progress in a number of areas, including an increasing number of problem drug users in effective treatment and an increasing number leaving treatment free from dependency. Without an evaluative framework for the Strategy as a […]
This report reviews government’s progress in improving the planning and spending framework since we last reported in July 2016.
This report builds on our previous work and takes stock of the Ministry of Justice’s Transforming Rehabilitation reforms
This report examines whether the BBC has managed E20 in a way that is likely to achieve value for money.
The preparations for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are going well overall and, despite time pressures, the Olympic Delivery Authority remains on course to deliver its construction programme.
This paper sets out a framework for effective management of staff costs in a challenging environment of cost reduction in public services. It builds on the high level principles set out in the NAO’s short guide to structured cost reduction.
This report assesses whether the apprenticeships programme is providing value for money.
Whitehall initiatives to revive former coalfield communities have helped to make them more attractive places to live and work but many remain among the most deprived areas in England and opportunities to help train local people and promote local businesses have been missed, the NAO has today reported. The regeneration effort has three strands: the […]
The amount of money being spent by government on external consultants has fallen slightly since 2006-07. However, government is not getting value for money from its use of consultants because it often lacks the information, skills and strategies to manage them effectively.
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has not achieved value for money for its £100 million spend on the second competition for government financial support for carbon capture storage.
Devolution deals to devolve power from central government to local areas in England offer opportunities to stimulate economic growth and reform public services for local users, but the arrangements are untested and government could do more to provide confidence that these deals will achieve the benefits intended