If the government is serious about increasing its use of small and medium – sized enterprises (SMEs), it will need to focus on those areas where SMEs can deliver real benefits.
Wave 1 City Deals encouraged cities to develop capacity to manage devolved funding and increased responsibility. It is too early to tell what impact they will have on growth.
The GREAT campaign enables government organisations to adopt consistent and effective brand management. To date, Cabinet Office has reported a return of £1.2 billion on its £113.5 million GREAT campaign investment. This is based on anticipated as well as actual expenditure by business, tourists and students.
An update for the Committee of Public Accounts on the Programme’s progress, including rollout and take-up of superfast broadband under Phase 1 (delivery to 90% of UK premises by December 2016) and comments on initial progress for phase 2.
Under the Scheme, the Treasury guarantees that lenders to infrastructure projects will be repaid in full and on time, irrespective of project performance. The NAO is calling for the Treasury to be rigorous and objective in assessing whether the guarantees, which transfer risk to the public sector, are genuinely needed.
There is little evidence that government’s commitment to pay 80% of undisputed invoices within 5 working days is having the intended effect of helping the UK’s 5 million small and medium-sized enterprises.
Local authorities have worked hard to manage reductions in government funding, but the DCLG needs to be better informed about the situation across England.
Local authorities have worked hard to manage reductions in government funding, but the DCLG needs to be better informed about the situation across England.
Despite providing substantially increased funding for PIDG (up to £700 million by 2015), the Department has not exercised enough oversight to ensure value for money has been achieved.
There are some good examples across government of alternatives to regulation being used to achieve policy objectives. However more needs to done to share these examples to highlight when alternatives are most likely to work and how they should be designed.
