The head of the National Audit Office Sir John Bourn reported today on the Cambridge-MIT Institute (CMI). His report acknowledges the considerable potential and early success of CMI and identifies important lessons for departments on setting up and managing innovative ventures in the future. CMI, a company jointly owned by Cambridge University and the Massachusetts […]
Departments should check whether their policy-making and implementation processes are suitable and cost effective, and the Cabinet Office can assist by accelerating the identification and dissemination of good practice, Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, today reported to Parliament. Departments spend some £350 billion a year on a range of services and […]
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 1997-98 account.
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported today that the Invest to Save (ISB) programme has fostered better working together by organisations, departments, agencies and local authorities. But there is less evidence of what the programme has achieved in terms of tangible outputs. In its study of the Invest to Save Budget, […]
MOD expects to secure significant benefits as a result of letting a PFI contract for the redevelopment of its Head Office Main Building in Whitehall according to Sir John Bourn, Head of the National Audit Office in a report presented to Parliament today. As a result of letting a 30 year PFI contract with a […]
Head of the National Audit Office Sir John Bourn today reported to Parliament on the National Insurance Fund account for 2002-03. His examination indicates that, in total, the level of fraud and error in National Insurance Fund benefits was significantly less than one per cent of expenditure. Sir John was therefore able to give an […]
There is a significant risk that local authorities in England will fail to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste sent to landfill by enough for the UK to meet EU targets, according to a report by Parliament?s spending watchdog. The Government intends to penalise local authorities who fail to make their share of the required […]
Full cost recovery remains an important principle for financial relationships between government and the third sector, but government departments have found difficulties in translating the principle into practice, according to a review published today by the National Audit Office. Today’s review examines the progress made by central government departments in ensuring that, by April 2006, […]
Sir John Bourn, Head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today that the Ministry of Defence has made considerable progress in developing new approaches to the management of its Research and Technology (R&T) programme to deliver better outcomes for Defence, but the Department could do more to get the full benefit from the money […]
A report by the National Audit Office today has highlighted the major challenge faced by the Department for Education and Skills in reducing pupil absence from schools. The Department, together with local authorities and schools, has made some progress in reducing total absence. At the same time, there has been no decline in unauthorised absence, […]
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 1998-99 account.
Under the Wider Markets Initiative government departments could provide real gains to the public sector, according to the NAO. The initiative encourages the public sector to make fuller use of core public assets in an enterprising way – developing and selling new goods and services. Where undertaken, such new activities are working well. The benefits […]
The NAO Strategy 2012-13 to 2014-15 sets out how we will apply the unique perspective of public audit to help Parliament and government drive lasting improvement in public services.
The Department of Health and the Information Centre could not demonstrate to the National Audit Office’s satisfaction that they had achieved value for money in establishing Dr Foster Intelligence, a joint venture between the Information Centre and a private sector company Dr Foster LLP. This is primarily because they did not go out to tender […]
Head of the National Audit Office Sir John Bourn today reported on the Connexions Service, concluding that it is a radical change in the delivery of advice and guidance to young people and is on target to meeting its major objective of reducing the proportion of 16- to 18-year olds not in education, employment or […]
Sir John Bourn, Head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today that although the Private Finance Initiative deal for the construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link was in many respects unique, the lessons to be learned from the project’s near collapse are not. The report makes three key points. In negotiating with the […]
Sir John Bourn, the head of the National Audit Office, today reported on the results of his examination of the Government’s estimates of the number of people who may be affected by the proposed introduction of a lifetime allowance for the amount of tax-privileged saving in a pension scheme. The proposed allowance of £1.4 million […]
Central Government spends over £2.6 billion a year supporting small business. The Small Business Service (SBS) is responsible for leading Government actions for small business primarily through leading on a Government Action Plan. The SBS has delivered some successful projects itself, but to date it does not have measures to establish its overall impact, or […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today that since electricity supply competition began in September 1998 more than 6.5 million customers – one in four – have saved money by changing supplier. Domestic electricity customers as a whole have seen their electricity bills fall by some £750 million a year since […]
Sir John Bourn, the Head of the NAO, reported to Parliament today that there has been progress in capturing for the nation more of the economic and social benefits of scientific research funded by the taxpayer. Commercialisation can range from making research outputs available to all, free of charge, to forming companies to develop innovative […]