“I welcome the progress that the Ministry of Defence has made in improving its logistics support for helicopters. As a priority the Department should aim to develop a consistent regime for measuring outputs and performance and obtain better data in order to give more reliable support to the front line.”
“Television licence fee evasion affects all licence payers. Even on conservative estimates the cost of evasion represents approximately £141 million a year, or £6 for each licence payer, that would otherwise be available to the BBC. The BBC has already done much good work to reduce the evasion rate and continues to take steps to strengthen the collection and enforcement arrangements. My report highlights opportunities to make further progress”.
“The Commission’s decision to award the second licence to Camelot was soundly based. However there are constraints which may deter potential bidders and unless decisive steps are taken there may well be no competitive pressure next time. The Commission and the Department must do all they can to level the playing field and eliminate unnecessary demands on bidders.”
“I welcome the progress that the Ministry of Defence has made to date in improving its arrangements for the major repair and overhaul of its land equipment. As a priority the Department should address important unresolved issues for achieving its repair and overhaul requirements and the role and future of its in-house provider, the Army Base Repair Organisation.”
“A significant amount of taxpayers’ money is being spent in central and local government in introducing Internet-based services. I have found considerable progress since my previous report in 1999 but weaknesses in information across government on the usage of its web sites, performance indicators to measure progress and methodologies to assess the value added by e-government provision.”
“The NHS is continuing to improve financial control over its budget. I welcome this and the initiatives to measure and take action against fraud.
“The way forward is to continue with improvements to corporate and clinical governance and to ensure that accounting for these large sums presents fully and clearly the financial position of NHS organisations.”
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, has published his report on the construction of Portcullis House, the new Parliamentary building. Portcullis House, which provides offices for 210 Members of Parliament and 400 staff together with committee rooms and other facilities, was completed in August 2000 at a cost of £234 million. The NAO … Read more
” MOD expects to secure significant benefits from this PFI deal which will help its accommodation arrangements in London. This was a large and complex project and my report sets out a number of important learning points relevant to other PFI deals under development.”
“The process of winding-up the affairs of The New Millennium Experience Company was extremely challenging, particularly given the complexity and scale of the operation. But I am pleased to say that the preparations required before the appointment of the liquidators were accomplished successfully and, on entering voluntary liquidation, NMEC was in better financial shape than when I last reported.”
