The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has recently made considerable progress in increasing the number and size of local authority projects to procure new waste treatment facilities under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). But, according to a National Audit Office report today, the Department was initially too slow to respond to the 1999 […]
Increased spending has been accompanied by an improvement in the condition of England’s Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), according to a report released today by the National Audit Office. The assessment of the condition of SSSIs, however, has fallen behind and there is a risk that Natural England is not detecting all sites that […]
Holding managers to account for the resources they have been allocated is key to improving financial management at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, according to a report out today by the National Audit Office. This need has been recognised by the Department and reflected in a programme to improve its financial management, […]
The Jobcentre Plus programme rolled out a network of over 800 offices, combining the functions of the former jobcentres and social security offices, and was completed for £314 million less than the original £2.2 billion budget according to a National Audit Office report released today. The project was well managed, particularly the procurement aspect, where […]
The NAO has reported today that, despite some progress, there is still a significant gap between the employment rate for the ethnic minority population and that for the general population which could take thirty years to eliminate. The Department for Work and Pensions’ strategy to tackle this has had some success, but in the NAO’s […]
The Rural Payments Agency has made good progress, but still has more to do to resolve all the problems it experienced in administering the 2005 EU single payment scheme to farmers in England, according to a report by the National Audit Office. It succeeded in meeting the June 2007 deadline for paying claims under the […]
The Carbon Trust helped UK businesses and public sector organisations reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by up to an estimated two million tonnes in 2006-07 according to a report out today by the National Audit Office. And its support of emerging low carbon technologies could lead to further sizeable reductions in the future. The Carbon […]
Government-led initiatives to help unemployed people find work are having a real impact. Programmes such as the New Deal have helped reduce the number of people on benefit, and the average length of claims. However, too many people still do not stay in work once they have found it and more now needs to be […]
The Environment Agency has made a number of improvements in the management of flood risk since 2001. Despite this, the Agency has not met its target to maintain 63 per cent of England’s flood defence systems in their target condition. A report out today by the National Audit Office highlights a number of improvements to […]
The majority of government departments and agencies are failing to meet targets to make their new buildings and major refurbishments sustainable, according to a report published today by the National Audit Office. As a result, value for money may be lost from the £3billion which departments and agencies spend each year on this activity. A […]
Jobcentre Plus personal advisers provide an effective and highly valued service in helping people looking for work. There are over 9,000 personal advisers who conducted 10.8 million interviews last year with people looking for work. The feedback from those they help is positive and suggests they are an effective method of support in helping people […]
Difficulties encountered by a government agency in making payments under the EU’s Single Payment Scheme have caused distress to a significant minority of farmers, cost farmers money in additional interest and bank charges, and undermined the farming industry’s confidence in the agency, according to a report published today. The study by the National Audit Office […]
There is a significant risk that local authorities in England will fail to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste sent to landfill by enough for the UK to meet EU targets, according to a report by Parliament?s spending watchdog. The Government intends to penalise local authorities who fail to make their share of the required […]