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  1. Entitlement to free early education and childcare

    Press release

    Published on:

    Significant progress has been made in providing 15 hours of free childcare to parents of 3- and 4-year olds, but the Department of Education has not yet achieved full value for money

  2. The Termination of the PFI Contract for the National Physical Laboratory

    Report Value for money

    Published on:

    The Department for Trade and Industry successfully transferred risk in the PFI contract to build and manage new facilities for the National Physical Laboratory and protected the taxpayer from bearing the majority of the costs of the project’s problems. Delays during the construction of the new facilities meant that the DTI did not secure the […]

  3. Employers’ perspectives on improving skills for employment

    Report Value for money

    Published on:

    More employers in England need to be persuaded of the value to their businesses of employment-related education and skills training, according to the National Audit Office. Today’s report to Parliament recommends that the ways in which employers get advice and information be simplified; that the emphasis should be on flexible and affordable training that employers […]

  4. NAO briefing: Appraisal and sustainable development

    Briefing

    Published on:

    This briefing was prepared for the Environmental Audit Committee. It gives a high-level landscape overview of options appraisal processes across government, with a focus on incorporating environmental and social factors.

  6. Tackling pensioner poverty: Encouraging take-up of entitlements

    Report Value for money

    Published on:

    Head of the National Audit Office, Sir John Bourn, reported today that, in recognising the good progress made by the Department for Work and Pensions and other public bodies working with pensioners in encouraging benefit take up, more could be done. Although two million pensioners live in low-income households, many tens of thousand miss out […]

  7. Partnering for success: Preparing to deliver the 14-19 education reforms in England

    Report Value for money

    Published on:

    The government’s reform programme to improve attainment and participation in education and training for 14 to 19 year olds has wide support at local level, including for the new Diplomas, which seek to blend general education with applied learning. The National Audit Office has today reported that the reform programme has met its key milestones […]

  8. Department of Trade and Industry: The United Kingdom’s Civil Space Activities

    Report Value for money

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    Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported today that the Government’s investment in space, coordinated by the British National Space Centre (BNSC) Partnership, has a number of strengths, including lean, user-focused programmes built up from wide consultation, many of which have produced important scientific and commercial benefits. There is scope, however, to […]

  9. Directory Enquiries – From 192 to 118

    Report Value for money

    Published on:

    Sir John Bourn, Head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today that not all consumers have yet benefited from the move from 192 to 118 directory enquiry numbers, but that the market was still evolving. Specifically, the average residential consumer is paying more for a directory enquiries service with no obvious improvement in quality. […]

  10. Improving Public Services through Better Construction

    Report Value for money

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    Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported today on the progress that departments and their agencies have made to their construction delivery performance since his 2001 report “Modernising Construction”. He concluded that there had been a considerable improvement in completing projects to time and cost and that real savings were being delivered, […]

  11. The privatisation of QinetiQ

    Report Value for money

    Published on:

    The Ministry of Defence’s privatisation of the defence technology business QinetiQ safeguarded the viability of a business of national strategic importance and generated significant proceeds for the taxpayer. However, the NAO believes the taxpayer could have received more money from the deal. Risks remain which the MoD must manage carefully if long term value for […]

  13. The Refinancing of the Norfolk and Norwich PFI Hospital: How the deal can be viewed in the light of the refinancing

    Report Value for money

    Published on:

    Sir John Bourn, head of the NAO, today reported that, following improvements in PFI financing terms, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust has shared in the gains from a refinancing of its early PFI hospital contract, but it continues to pay a premium in respect of the financing costs compared to current deals. […]

  14. Discharging older patients from hospital

    Press release

    Published on:

    There are currently far too many older people in hospitals who do not need to be there. Without radical action, this problem will worsen and add further financial strain to the NHS and local government.

  15. Legal aid and mediation for people involved in family breakdown

    Report Value for money

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    Too many family breakdown cases are going to court rather than being settled through mediation, the National Audit Office has today reported. Family breakdown cases which are resolved through professional mediation are cheaper and quicker to settle. And academic research shows that they secure better outcomes, particularly for children, as they are less acrimonious. However, […]

  16. Department for Work and Pensions Resource Account 2001-02

    Report Financial audit

    Published on:

    Head of the National Audit Office Sir John Bourn has qualified his audit opinion on the Department for Work and Pensions’ Resource Accounts for 2001-2002 because of significant levels of estimated fraud and error in welfare benefits. As much as £3 billion may have been lost from benefit payments in 2001-2002, according to the Department’s […]

  17. Responding to crises

    Press release

    Published on:

    The Department for International Development’s spending on humanitarian interventions has almost trebled between 2010-11 and 2014-15 to more than £1 billion per year, rising as a share of its total budget from 6% to 14%.

  18. National Insurance Fund Account 1999-2000

    Report Financial audit

    Published on:

    Section 161 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 requires me to examine and certify the National Insurance Fund Account and this report records the results of my examination of the 1999-2000 account.

  19. Department of Social Security Resource Accounts 2000-2001

    Report Financial audit

    Published on:

    There has been a reduction in the estimated loss of social security benefit through fraud and error compared to previous years, according to a National Audit Office report published today. However, the total amount of Income Support and Jobseeker’s Allowance overpaid in 2000-2001, over £1 billion, is still substantial. As a result, head of the […]

  20. PFI: The STEPS Deal

    Report Value for money

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    Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office today reported to Parliament on the £1.5 billion Strategic Transfer of the Estate to the Private Sector (STEPS) PFI deal entered into by Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise with a private sector consortium known as Mapeley STEPS. The deal incorporates the transfer of the ownership […]