The Department is exerting stronger oversight and sanctioning under-performing providers but there remain issues to resolve, such as more timely identification of underperformance and ineligible payments.
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.
The Group’s priorities are to improve government efficiency and reform public services. It is too soon to judge its success. This review details various challenges that the Group faces and is intended to provide an objective baseline against which its progress can be assessed.
Now that all Lloyds shares have been sold we reviewed how the government prepared for and carried out the sales from March 2014 onwards.
Ahead of the government’s Immigration White Paper, the NAO has examined the Home Office’s management of the Skilled Worker visa route.
The National Audit Office has today published a review, which summarizes the main elements of the reform currently under way in the probation sector, and identifies the key issues now facing those involved in probation.
The National Audit Office and the Audit Commission have today called for public bodies to work together much more effectively than they currently do to maximise savings from procurement activities.
Our financial audit reports contain audit opinions on accounts across the public sector.
Large-scale infrastructure spending by the private sector over ten years or more will increase consumer utility bills but government and regulators do not know by how much or whether the bills will be affordable.
On 15 January 2018, Carillion declared insolvency and the Official Receiver, an employee of the Insolvency Service, started to liquidate its assets and contracts. This report focuses on the role of the UK government in preparing for and managing the liquidation of Carillion.
The Whole of Government Accounts consolidates accounts from over 10,000 public bodies, providing an overview of the UK’s public finances.
Hetan Shah becomes the NAO’s latest non-executive Board member, following approval of his appointment by the Public Accounts Commission.
Homelessness has increased across all measures since 2010, with many local authorities now seeing it as a risk to their financial sustainability.
COVID-19 is affecting us all. The way we live, work and socialise has changed dramatically. The National Audit Office is no different, our staff are working from home and we will also have an important role to play in reporting on the government’s response to COVID-19. We’re resharing some of our knowledge on how organisations […]
Young people are making complex choices about higher education without much effective help and advice, and the institutions concerned are under very little competitive pressure to provide best value.
We all rely on local public services to be able to function in our day-to-day lives, and in these challenging times, we’re even more reliant on those services. Whether from local authorities, local NHS organisations police forces and fire and rescue organisations, to keep us safe and take care of us should we need it. […]
Cloud services’ can bring cost and performance benefits. But they can also bring new challenges and risks. To help leaders oversee decision-making and implementation of cloud services, we recently published ‘Guidance for audit committees on cloud services’. The magazine, Public Sector Executive, invited us to outline the issues in the article The National Audit Office’s guide […]
Government must develop a clearer approach to Senior Civil Service leadership capability to ensure the best people can deliver essential projects and services.
The head of the NAO’s annual speech will focus on the challenges of rising demand for public services and stretched resources.
Our report looks at why home to school transport is one of the fastest growing areas of spending for local authorities in England.