The NAO has today published an update for the Public Accounts Committee, detailing developments in the management of the Sellafield site, the UK’s largest and most hazardous nuclear site, and the extent to which progress has been made in decommissioning and cleaning it up.
The DWP has reset Universal Credit on a sounder basis but at significant cost, by extending the time for implementation and choosing a more expensive approach.
HM Treasury and HMRC do not keep track of tax reliefs intended to change behaviour, or adequately report to Parliament on whether tax reliefs work as expected.
The Department is not able to demonstrate the effectiveness of how it and others intervene in underperforming maintained schools and academies.
This review of five major rail projects highlights lessons the Department for Transport should apply to current and future rail programmes.
The new directorates that replaced the former UKBA have made progress in some areas but not across the whole business.
The Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG) has achieved significant savings but further work should be done to improve the process of gathering and collating evidence.
Long-standing issues in the rail industry and the scale of the procurements led to the DfT’s decision to lead the procurements itself, despite not having led a major rolling stock procurement before.
The report covers HMRC’s progress in operating the PAYE service, its implementation of its new Real Time Information service and its performance in tax collection and in reducing error and fraud in personal tax credits.
All three projects examined by the NAO have experienced significant delays stemming from a range of problems.
The lack of predictability of funding for highways authorities has practical implications for road networks and may lead to increased costs in the long term.
The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a planned project to build a large sewer running under the River Thames. It is the Government’s preferred solution to the problem of spills from London’s sewers into the tidal part of the Thames. In response to correspondence, we explain the roles of the different parties, identify potential risks to value for money and set out what we expect good project management to look like. To avoid influencing the outcome of ongoing competitions for the construction and financing of the project, we do not evaluate the value for money of the project and the issues raised do not imply any audit judgement about its performance.
The purpose of this note is to update the Committee of Public Accounts on developments since the publication of the National Audit Office report in February, particularly the release of the Authority’s second annual report on 23 May.
June 2014.
Monitor has achieved value for money in regulating NHS foundation trusts, and has generally been effective in helping trusts in difficulty to improve.
The Education Funding Agency has fulfilled most of its day-to-day responsibilities, but faces increasing expectations from the Department for Education.
The DfT and Transport for London have done well to protect taxpayers’ interests in Crossrail but risks remain including delivery of the trains.
The new policing oversight framework has been in place for a year but already there are gaps in the system with the potential to undermine accountability both to the Home Office and the public.
The use of confiscation orders to deny criminals the proceeds of their crimes is not proving to be value for money.
Two government programmes aiming to help families with multiple challenges, such as unemployment and anti-social behaviour, are starting to provide benefits but considerable challenges remain.
Thameslink aims to reduce overcrowding and journey times. Initial progress has been good but a 3 year delay in awarding the train contract puts the 2018 programme deadline at risk.