Sir John Bourn, Head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today that the costs of this project had risen from £650 million to an estimated £933 million. Although the Ministry of Defence originally considered that it had transferred the risk of cost overruns to the private sector, in the end it funded most of […]
The Government has set challenging targets for public services to be delivered to citizens electronically as part of the wider Modernising Government agenda. The Prime Minister pledged that by 2002 a quarter of all transactions between citizens and government should be capable of being conducted ‘electronically’, rising to 50% by 2005 and 100% by 2008. […]
The £22.5 billion auction of radio spectrum for the third generation of mobile telephones was well designed and efficient, Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today. Key success factors were that the Radiocommunications Agency marketed the opportunity and consulted the Industry extensively before the auction, rehearsed it, managed the bidding […]
A National Audit Office report to Parliament today on the handling of the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak showed that the outbreak cost the public sector over £3 billion and the private sector more than £5 billion. According to head of the NAO Sir John Bourn, lessons to be learned from the outbreak, unprecedented in […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, today reported to Parliament that in October 1998 the National Museum of Wales made an irregular payment to Mr Tim Arnold, their departing Assistant Director (Resource Management).
Nearly 100,000 new childcare places have been created for pre-school children since 1998 and the Government is on course to meet its targets for the provision of free part-time early education for three- and four-year-olds. But Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported today that more needs to be done to ensure […]
There were problems in performance during the first seven months after the launch of the Criminal Records Bureau but, following joint action by the Bureau, Capita and the Home Office, the Bureau is now delivering reliably each week over twice the number of Disclosures of criminal records undertaken by the police under the old arrangements. […]
Victim Support is highly regarded by the 1.4 million victims and witnesses who make use of its services each year. But according to a National Audit Office report, published today, the rate at which victims are referred to Victim Support varies widely from area to area and only a small proportion of victims of unreported […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, provided Parliament today with a ground breaking report explaining the National Audit Office’s approach to examining the value for money of deals under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Having already published eight reports on major privately financed projects Sir John said the time was now right […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, has reported to Parliament on the outcome of financial audit work undertaken by the NAO in central government over the past year. During the year Sir John qualified his audit opinion on 11 accounts and reported on a further 11. Today’s report examines the progress made […]
This briefing has been prepared for the Public Administration Select Committee to provide an overview of the work and performance of the Cabinet Office in the financial year 2007-08 and subsequent months.
In a report to Parliament today, head of the NAO Sir John Bourn recognised that the outsourcing of the Department of Social Security’s medical assessment service had reduced costs and speeded up the turnaround of work. But the standard of medical assessments and the quality of service to benefit customers need to improve. The service […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, has reported to Parliament on the outcome of financial audit work undertaken in central government by his staff over the past year. Sir John qualified his audit opinion on 13 accounts and reported on a further 13. Sir John examines the progress made by Government departments and […]
Scottish Enterprise’s Skillseekers programme had made considerable progress in delivering Vocational Qualifications for young people at reducing unit cost. There are, however, a number of ways that Scottish Enterprise and Local Enterprise Companies (LECs) can build on their successes, Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to the Scottish Parliament today. Skillseekers […]
Head of the National Audit Office Sir John Bourn has published a report following his examination of each of the twenty three summarised accounts for the NHS in England. Today’s report draws attention to a number of issues, including the NHS’s overall financial performance, developments in accounting and internal control, fraud, and clinical negligence liabilities. […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, today reported to Parliament developments in performance measurement intended to support the achievement of Government aims and objectives. For each Department, key objectives and associated performance targets feature in a Public Service Agreement, which underlies the resources allocated in spending reviews. These arrangements put the United […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that the failure to introduce the Benefits Payment Card had cost the Department of Social Security some £127 million in nugatory system development. Delays in the Card programme, which was part of a pioneering Private Finance Initiative (PFI) project designed also to […]
More needs to be done to encourage older people – an increasingly large proportion of the population – to use government e-services if those services are to provide value for money, according to the National Audit Office. The government set itself a target that everyone who wants access to the internet has it by the […]
The innovative Individual Learning Accounts (ILA) scheme was aimed at widening participation in learning and helping to overcome financial barriers faced by learners, particularly amongst those who lack skills and qualifications. The scheme, which subsidised the costs of appropriate courses, was implemented too quickly and inadequately planned. The Department for Education and Skills had no […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, today reported that the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority’s productivity and processes compared well when benchmarked against three private sector insurance companies. The examination highlighted opportunities for the Authority to make improvements, and the report sets out 23 recommendations aimed at enhancing the quality of service provided […]