The NAO has today published an investigation of two grants awarded by the Big Lottery Fund and one awarded by the Cabinet Office to three related organisations.
The Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG) has achieved significant savings but further work should be done to improve the process of gathering and collating evidence.
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.
This report draws together insights from our previous reports and those of the PAC on the role of, and recent changes to, the centre of government. The centre of government has responsibility for coordinating and overseeing the work of government, enabling it to achieve its strategic aims and ensuring there is a central view of the effective operation of government as a whole. Most of these strategic functions are performed by the Cabinet Office and the Treasury.
The Cabinet Office will have to work with other government departments to ensure that the full benefits of its shared services strategy are realised.
Government is owed a large amount of money but has no overall view of its debt reduction objectives nor of the financial risk that the debt poses.
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.
This report provides the context around whistleblowing and examines the procedures in place for whistleblowing within government departments.
MyCSP has the potential to be good value for money with a projected saving of 50 per cent on costs, but the Cabinet Office and MyCSP still face many large challenges in transforming the service.
There is a lack of transparency, consistency and accountability in the use of compromise agreements in the public sector and little is being done to change this.
