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.
The NAO has published its report on the 2010-11 accounts of HM Revenue and Customs.
The Mortgage Rescue Scheme, launched in January 2009 by the Department for Communities and Local Government, achieved fewer than half of the rescues expected. The Department helped 2,600 households avoid repossession and homelessness at a cost of in excess of £240 million – but it originally expected to help 6,000 households for £205 million.
The Department for Transport protected the taxpayer and secured value for money in the termination of National Express’s InterCity East Coast franchise.
Investors in taxpayer-owned banks were paid an excessive interest rate for risk actually being shouldered by taxpayers. The buy-back was therefore value for money.
More could be done to manage the risk of a reduction in the value of EU funds to the UK in the event of a depreciation in the euro.
DWP does not yet have enough evidence to demonstrate that its activities to reduce the cost of mistakes by customers have been value for money. Although mistakes are difficult to detect, correct and prevent, the scale of overpayments and underpayments demonstrates a clear need for improvement.
Amyas Morse, Comptroller and Auditor General, has qualified his audit opinion on the 2008-09 Consolidated Statement on the use of EU Funds in the UK.
The Treasury’s Asset Protection Scheme to protect over £280 billion of Royal Bank of Scotland’s financial assets against losses had a beneficial impact on financial markets. But the Scheme has, so far, only been partially successful in encouraging lending to creditworthy borrowers on the scale originally envisaged.
The scale of the support currently provided to UK banks has fallen from a peak of £955 billion to £512 billion, but the amount of cash currently borrowed by the Government to support banks has risen by £7 billion since December 2009. It is likely the taxpayer will be providing support for years to come.
Changes made in 2007-08 to public service pension schemes are on course to deliver savings and stabilise pension costs. However the value for money of the changes cannot be demonstrated in the absence of a strategic assessment of their long term impact on staff motivation and retention.
The NAO Strategy 2011-12 to 2013-14 sets out how we will apply the unique perspective of public audit to help Parliament and government drive lasting improvement in public services.
The Highways Agency’s PFI contract to widen the M25 could have been better value for money. The slowness with which it was taken forward resulted in higher financing costs, and the Agency was slow to investigate a potentially cheaper alternative to widening.
Central Departmental decisions by the Ministry of Defence to try to balance the defence budget have reduced its cash-flow requirements in the short-term but at a long-term cost that represents poor value for money for the taxpayer.
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.
The NAO has published its report on the 2009-10 accounts of HM Revenue and Customs.
In its final review of the quality of the data systems used by departments to measure progress against PSAs, the NAO underlines the vital importance of measuring government performance.
The MOD, one of the largest landowners in the UK, has strengthened its estate planning and achieved significant receipts from disposal of property. However, the changes are not yet sufficient to drive value for money for the taxpayer rigorously.
There has been a detectable improvement over recent years in the financial management of European funds across the European Union. However, there remain seemingly intractable problems with reducing the high levels of error in some significant areas of EU spending.
With projected demand falling and costs of carriages rising, there are risks to value for money from plans to increase capacity on the rail network.