Amyas Morse, the Comptroller and Auditor General, has qualified his opinion on the accounts of the Department for Education and the Education Funding Agency (EFA) on a number of grounds.
Optimism bias in public sector projects is not a new phenomenon. But it is one that persists, frequently undermining projects’ value for money as time and cost are under estimated and benefits over estimated. This report uses our back catalogue to illustrate the consequences of over optimism. In doing so, we have identified some contributory factors – such as project complexity and an organisation’s culture of challenge.
The Service has achieved value for money for debt advice but has not yet shown that its money advice is achieving value for money.
The Charity Commission is not regulating charities effectively. It fails to take tough action in some serious cases and makes poor use of its powers.
HMRC and the Treasury do not know if incentives designed to increase charitable giving, at a cost to the taxpayer of £940 million in 2012-13, have resulted in more income for charities.
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.
The NAO challenges government and its private sector contractors to work together more effectively in taxpayers’ interest and address the issues behind the current crisis of confidence in contracting out public services.
The NAO challenges government and its private sector contractors to work together more effectively in taxpayers’ interest and address the issues behind the current crisis of confidence in contracting out public services.
The NAO strategy 2014-15 to 2016-17 sets out how our public audit perspective will help Parliament hold government to account and improve public services.
Many emergency admissions to hospital are avoidable and many patients stay in hospital longer than is necessary.
The NAO reports on the use of confidentiality clauses and severance payments in three more areas of government.
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.
The Government Finance Profession’s Finance Leadership Group has published a paper with support from the National Audit Office.
The Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) are the consolidated financial statements for the whole of the UK public sector, showing what the UK Government spends and receives, and what it owns and owes.
The National Audit Office has today reported on progress in the Treasury’s interventions to maintain financial stability, its wider support for the economy, its capacity to respond to future financial crises, and new reporting developments.
This memorandum was prepared for the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee. It provides an overview of Research and Development (R&D) spending in the UK since 1995, details the flow of funding from public and private sources, and compares R&D spending in the UK with spending in other countries.
We found that the 2007-2011 Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Board’s poor financial management and procurement of an unaffordable PFI scheme had left the Trust in a critical financial position.
This NAO impacts case study represents one example where there has been some beneficial change, whether financial or non-financial, resulting from our involvement.
The UK is committed, under the Climate Change Act 2008, to cutting carbon
emissions by at least 34 per cent by 2020 and by at least 80 per cent by 2050
compared to a 1990 baseline.
Malaria is a serious health risk. Further progress in the fight against the disease will depend on a growth in commitment and capacity from countries receiving UK aid.
We recommended that the Department for Communities and Local Government improve its evaluation of the impact of funding changes on local authorities’ financial sustainability.
This NAO impacts case study represents one example where there has been some beneficial change, whether financial or non-financial, resulting from our involvement.