In its progress report on the Olympic and Paralympic Games the National Audit Office has found that with four years to go until the start of the Games, the preparations have progressed in important ways. In particular, there has been good progress in preparing the Olympic Park site and construction activities are broadly on track. […]
The Better Care Fund has not achieved the expected value for money, in terms of savings, outcomes for patients or hospital activity.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has provided an adverse opinion on the truth and fairness of the Department for Education’s group financial statements 2015-16. He has also qualified his regularity opinion because the Department has exceeded two of its expenditure limits authorised by Parliament. The Department has many challenges to overcome if it is to implement successfully its plans to provide Parliament with a better picture of academy trusts’ spending next year.
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, said today that progress is being made towards the £21.5 billion ‘Gershon’ efficiency target but that because of the extent of the risk that efficiencies may not be measured accurately, and time lags in reporting of data, gains reported so far should be considered provisional and […]
An update report by the NAO identifies that the government has secured gains of £137 million from PFI debt refinancings under new arrangements introduced by the Treasury in 2002. These new arrangements followed previous reports by the NAO and the Public Accounts Committee that highlighted the opportunities for the private sector to benefit from refinancing […]
The Whole of Government Accounts provide a unique perspective owing to their reach and approach to measuring the government’s financial performance and position.
There is no collective understanding of what type of oversight is appropriate and cost effective for different types of arm’s length bodies.
Government has gaps in its capability and must do more to develop the skills needed. It is making plans, but the scale of the challenge means greater urgency is needed.
Staff sickness absence in the Department for Transport and its agencies averaged 10.4 days in 2005, costing the taxpayer around £24 million a year, according to a new NAO report published today. Performance varies across the Department, and some parts such as the central department, the Highways Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency compare […]
Local authorities have kept up levels of capital spending but face pressure to meet debt costs and maintain investment in existing assets.
The MoD has developed a strategy that identifies the estate it needs and the 25% of its estate it can dispose of by 2040. However, the strategy and current funding levels allow only for a partial reversal of the decline in the condition of the remaining estate. There is a significant risk that the poor condition of the estate will affect the Department’s ability to provide the defence capability needed.
Shared service centres in the NHS and HM Prison Service are on course to deliver substantial financial savings. But a report out today by the National Audit Office found that central government was initially slow to adopt shared services. While the momentum has picked up it is not clear that the shared services initiative is […]
The first independent report into operational innovation in central government has found that, although a deep rooted culture of risk aversion is being tackled and improvements in quality and efficiency of service are being made, government bodies could still secure greater benefits and efficiencies with more innovative and progressive approaches. The NAO report published today […]
The first sale of government shares in the Royal Bank of Scotland in August 2015 was well planned and organised and represented value for money.
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.
The Department for Trade and Industry successfully transferred risk in the PFI contract to build and manage new facilities for the National Physical Laboratory and protected the taxpayer from bearing the majority of the costs of the project’s problems. Delays during the construction of the new facilities meant that the DTI did not secure the […]
The Department for International Development’s aid programmes have helped the rural poor in developing countries. But poverty in rural areas must be substantially reduced if DFID is to meet its targets, according to a report out today by the National Audit Office. More than 1.1 billion people worldwide are living in extreme poverty. Around 75 […]
Under the Wider Markets Initiative government departments could provide real gains to the public sector, according to the NAO. The initiative encourages the public sector to make fuller use of core public assets in an enterprising way – developing and selling new goods and services. Where undertaken, such new activities are working well. The benefits […]
Each year the 384 further education colleges in England spend £1.6 billion on a range of goods and services from books and stationery to examination fees and energy bills. Some colleges recognise the benefits of introducing more efficient and effective processes, but many need to improve their processes substantially, and could contribute to plans to […]
Probation services have been restructured on time and within cost targets during a period of major change but operational problems and risks to further service transformation need to be resolved if re-offending levels are to reduce.