The Pension Service has made real and substantial progress since 2002 in helping pensioners to secure their entitlements using new and well thought through approaches, but will need to build on this work to improve take-up still further. A report today by the National Audit Office highlights the need to develop local work to reach […]
As the funding and provision of transport decentralises, this report gives an overview of the landscape and highlights issues and risks.
Explore the trends in capital expenditure and resourcing since 2010-11 and build a richer understanding of what they mean for different local authorities.
This report examines the progress made in improving the timeliness of auditor reporting on English local public bodies’ financial statements. Delays in completing audited accounts can have significant implications for local accountability and the effective management of public money.
This guide provides practical advice on how to plan for and manage the decommissioning of public services delivered by civil society organisations (CSOs) and maintain value for money while doing so.
Many NHS trusts need to tackle a range of financial, quality and governance issues if they are to meet the standards required of them to become self-governing foundation trusts by 2014. The Department of Health and the NHS will now have to decide how they will deal with those facing the most severe problems.
Despite funding and staffing levels for mental health services increasing, and more patients being treated, millions of people with mental health needs are still not accessing services, with some facing lengthy waits for treatment, according to a new National Audit Office report.
This is our second report on backlogs for elective and cancer care. It examines the design of NHSE’s recovery plan, how the NHS has been implementing the plan and the ongoing risks NHSE has to manage.
Better access to public information can improve accountability and service delivery. Government needs a firm grasp of whether that potential is being realised.
The Drug Treatment and Testing Order can be a successful community sentence for some drug misusing offenders who would otherwise have been considered for a prison sentence, according to a report to Parliament today by the National Audit Office. However, only 28 per cent of Orders terminated in 2003 were completed in full or were […]
The introduction of new arrangements in 2000 for the funding of civil legal aid has led to better scrutiny by the Legal Services Commission of the work of its suppliers and a greater degree of control over the civil legal aid budget, according to Sir John Bourn, Head of the National Audit Office. As the […]
The National Probation Service Information Systems Strategy (NPSISS) network is operating in 38 out of the 42 new local probation areas in England and Wales. Nevertheless, there were serious problems in the development of a case recording and management system, known as CRAMS, leading to its use by a minority of probation service areas. During […]
Explore the broad trends identified by our report Homelessness and build a richer understanding of what they mean for different parts of the country.
Sir John Bourn, Head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that good progress has been made in recent years in increasing the overall employment rate for older people. The gap between the proportion of older people in work compared to the general working population has also narrowed by 1 per cent over […]
Following reforms to decision-making and the appeal process in social security benefits, introduced in 1999 by the Department for Work and Pensions, the number of appeals against decisions has fallen overall by around 15 per cent and waiting times for appeal hearings have been cut. Since the reforms, decision-making performance for some benefits, but not […]
This report examines the financial sustainability of mainstream schools in England.
This sets out the role, costs and performance of CCGs, the changing commissioning landscape and the future of CCGs.
The Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) are the very first audited set of accounts showing in one place the financial position of the whole public sector. However, the NAO considers that the picture is incomplete.
The NHS delivered a £2.1bn surplus in 2011-12 but there is some financial distress in NHS trusts with some very large deficits.
The report examines the system protecting consumers from scams, unfair trading, and unsafe goods. BEIS has made progress since our 2011 review, but needs to do more, particularly in the context of the growth of e-commerce.