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.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change’s Green Deal design not only failed to deliver any meaningful benefit, it increased suppliers’ costs – and therefore energy bills – in meeting their obligations through the ECO scheme.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change’s Green Deal design not only failed to deliver any meaningful benefit, it increased suppliers’ costs – and therefore energy bills – in meeting their obligations through the ECO scheme.
Our strategy 2016-17 to 2018-19 sets out how the NAO will meet our new challenges and maximise our effectiveness to support Parliament in holding government to account and improving public services, and the resources we need to do this.
This impacts case study shows how reports by NAO and PAC resulted in the Nucelar Decommissioning Authority terminating its existing management contract and announcing a new approach, expected to improve management and reduce costs.
It is one example of financial or non-financial benefits realised in 2014 as a result of our involvement, all of which are set out in our interactive PDF.
Since privatisation, Ofwat and Defra have overseen major improvements in water quality and service quality. Customers have seen a marked rise in bills but not the benefits of companies’ unexpected financial gains.
The Ministry of Defence’s strategy for improving its financial management has put its finances on a sounder footing and is delivering results, but there are still considerable challenges ahead, including delivering the savings already removed from budget allocations.
Government has given less attention to grants than to other policy funding mechanisms, despite grant funding being higher in value, making up 41 per cent (£292 billion) of its total expenditure.
The Public Bodies Reform Programme is making good progress in abolishing or merging public bodies and reducing their costs, but triennial reviews of remaining bodies need to be much more effective.
The government now accepts the urgent need for a skilled cross-departmental leadership group – but this requires changing the long-standing culture of the Senior Civil Service.
The relocation took place on time and without disruption to broadcasts and should be within budget. But it is too early to judge value for money for licence fee payers.
Our financial audit reports contain audit opinions on accounts across the public sector.
The Home Office has improved the financial management of its core business but strengths at the centre are not being demonstrated in its ‘change programmes’.
Government departments have been successful in cutting costs and managing within their reduced spending allocations for 2010-11. However, most departments will need to cut their spending by much more over the next four years. This will not be possible without making fundamental changes.
A programme to equip frontline police officers with mobile devices, such as BlackBerrys and personal data assistants, has achieved a basic level of benefits. However, as the benefits for most forces do not extend beyond this basic level, then value for money has not yet been achieved from the £80 million of expenditure.
PaceSetter has led to productivity improvements and may have contributed to greater staff engagement. However, the extent to which overall efficiency has improved is not clear; and some key principles of process improvement are not yet being applied strategically across the entire organisation.
There are major risks the Department of Energy and Climate Change must address to achieve value for money from its £11.3 billion national programme to install ‘smart’ electricity and gas meters in all homes and smaller non-domestic premises in Great Britain from 2014 to 2019.
Hospital productivity has fallen over the last ten years. There have been significant increases in funding and hospitals have used this to deliver against national priorities, but they need to provide more leadership, management and clinical engagement to optimise the use of additional resources and deliver value for money.
Ofcom has saved some £23 million over the last five years. However, with its complex remit across the telecommunications sector, Ofcom needs a better articulation of the intended outcomes of its activities and how its work achieves those outcomes.
The Ministry of Justice has made progress in improving its financial management, but currently falls short of best practice in the consistency of its financial management approach, its understanding of its costs and the integration of its financial management systems and processes.