Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today that the great majority of property owners who receive English Heritage grants are complying with requirements to allow public access. However, the access position remains unclear for a significant number of properties, and in a minority of cases practical obstacles were encountered when […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that new arrangements giving the National Audit Office direct access to the accounts and records of the Royal Household have worked well. This first examination found that good value for money had been achieved from the £7.2 million a year the Royal […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, today reported to Parliament on the 1999-2000 account of the Millennium Commission, without qualifying his audit opinion on those accounts. The full text of his report is attached.
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today that the targets for visitor numbers and income required by the Millennium Dome were highly ambitious and inherently risky. They involved a significant degree of financial exposure on the project, which materialised when the targets were missed. Sir John was commenting on the […]
This report, our first on this subject, is a landscape review of the BBC’s commercial activities, setting out how the BBC organizes these activities and the key risks and challenges they currently face.
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that the Gaming Board could benefit both taxpayers and the gaming industry by making further improvements to its regulatory work. The NAO looked at whether the Board could improve its performance by: removing unnecessary regulation and relying more on the regulatory and […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today on the way in which the Arts Council of England manage the risks during the construction phase of major capital projects funded by the National Lottery. He found that the Arts Council have, from the outset, adopted a pro-active approach to monitoring […]
Today’s report, which is the National Audit Office’s first on the preparations for London 2012, identifies six main risk areas which may impact on the Games: Delivering the Games against an immovable deadline. The need for strong governance and delivery structures given the multiplicity of organisations and groups involved in the Games. The requirement for […]
The briefing has been prepared for the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee (the Committee) to support the Committee’s evidence session on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (the Department) Annual Accounts 2009-10 and the responsibilities of the Secretary of State.
An investigation into the fall in National Lottery income for good causes in 2016-17. It reviews the trends in total National Lottery sales and income for good causes, focusing on the six distributors with the largest share of National Lottery income and the way they have managed the balances within the National Lottery Distribution Fund.
13 December 2017
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the organisations it sponsors spend some £575 million a year buying goods and services. Today’s report to Parliament by the head of the National Audit Office Sir John Bourn concludes that procurement capabilities and practices amongst the organisations are, on the whole, underdeveloped and that better procurement practice […]
This investigation examines issues related to individuals the BBC hires as freelancers, particularly those hired through personal service companies.
The Ministry of Defence’s £2.4 billion programme to transform battlefield communications, command and control through the joint introduction of Bowman digital radios and the advanced Combat Infrastructure Platform (CIP) to an exacting 30 month timescale, has been recast. A revised programme and a further £121 million of funding have been approved to deliver the capabilities […]
Sir John Bourn, Head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that VisitBritain’s overseas marketing activities are well planned and executed, and that they achieve high returns. However his report called on VisitBritain to adjust the balance of its activities further in favour of brand building work in emerging markets. VisitBritain’s main performance […]
Sir John Bourn, Head of the National Audit Office reported today that there has been a downward trend in TV Licence fee evasion. But evasion is costing the BBC an estimated £141 million a year in lost revenue, and more on some estimates. This is equivalent to an extra £6 being available to the BBC […]
This briefing has been prepared for the Culture, Media and Sport Committee to provide an overview of the work and performance of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in the financial year 2008-09 and subsequent months.
The Ministry of Defence achieved a good price when they awarded the contract for a new Defence Fixed Telecommunication System to BT in 1997, Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today. The ten year contract let under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is expected to cost £612 million with a […]
This report examines whether the BBC has managed E20 in a way that is likely to achieve value for money.