HMRC has made good progress towards maximising revenue and making cost savings but also needs to do much more to improve its customer service.
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.
This Departmental Overview is one of 17 we are producing covering our work on each major government department. It summarises our work on the HM Treasury during 2013-14.
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 National Audit Office has today reported on HM Treasury’s 2013-14 Annual Report and Accounts. The report provides an overview of the context in which the Comptroller and Auditor General has carried out his audit of the Treasury’s 2013-14 financial statements; and details of his assessment of audit risk arising from the Treasury’s major financial stability and wider economic support schemes.
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.
We welcome the Treasury’s continuing commitment to improving the timeliness and content of the WGA.This will enable the Treasury to manage public finances better.
The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a planned project to build a large sewer running under the River Thames. It is the Government’s preferred solution to the problem of spills from London’s sewers into the tidal part of the Thames. In response to correspondence, we explain the roles of the different parties, identify potential risks to value for money and set out what we expect good project management to look like. To avoid influencing the outcome of ongoing competitions for the construction and financing of the project, we do not evaluate the value for money of the project and the issues raised do not imply any audit judgement about its performance.
The purpose of this note is to update the Committee of Public Accounts on developments since the publication of the National Audit Office report in February, particularly the release of the Authority’s second annual report on 23 May.
June 2014.
