In April 2000, three men were sentenced to prison terms for corruption in relation to the purchase of homes, between 1991 and 1995, by Focus Housing Association from a Birmingham property dealer. Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today that the Corporation’s routine reviews of Focus during that period did […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today that the top 25 Ministry of Defence equipment projects were, at 31 March 1999, forecast to cost £2.7 billion more than originally estimated. Including beneficial revised costings for the Eurofighter programme, cost overruns have reduced from the £2.9 billion reported in 1998. The […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today that the Private Finance Initiative deal for the new British Embassy in Berlin is likely to provide a suitable building at a price slightly lower than a comparable conventional procurement. The contract provides for the construction of a new Embassy building and its […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office (NAO), told Parliament today that the Prison Service had secured £1 million of the expected £10.7 million increase in returns to shareholders of Fazakerley Prison Services Limited, following the refinancing of the Fazakerley prison contract let under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Further refinancings of PFI […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that new arrangements giving the National Audit Office direct access to the accounts and records of the Royal Household have worked well. This first examination found that good value for money had been achieved from the £7.2 million a year the Royal […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today that trustee bodies administering charitable funds associated with the NHS have made substantial progress in adopting high standards of corporate governance and have adequate controls in place to ensure that business is properly conducted. Sir John concludes that the current arrangements for supervision […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that the Gaming Board could benefit both taxpayers and the gaming industry by making further improvements to its regulatory work. The NAO looked at whether the Board could improve its performance by: removing unnecessary regulation and relying more on the regulatory and […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today that the United Kingdom made a major and vital contribution to the successful NATO operation in Kosovo. And the Ministry of Defence’s financial management of their military operations in Kosovo represented a clear improvement over that achieved in Bosnia. Against the background of […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, today reported to Parliament that the Department for International Development have made a major contribution to easing the humanitarian crisis arising from the problems in Kosovo. And there are lessons for the future, for example in the way the Department plan for emergencies and manage their […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today on the £635 million contract awarded to Siemens Business Services (SBS) to process transactions and provide a service to National Savings’ 30 million customers. The partnership forms a vital part of a programme of modernisation and transformation which aims to provide better […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today on the risk of fraud in property management in the Ministry of Defence. Property management on the Defence Estate consists of maintenance work and minor new construction work up to a value of about £300,000 for each individual job, including VAT and […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today that the great majority of property owners who receive English Heritage grants are complying with requirements to allow public access. However, the access position remains unclear for a significant number of properties, and in a minority of cases practical obstacles were encountered when […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today on the administration of parole in England and Wales. Ensuring that prisoners’ applications for parole are considered in a timely manner requires close co-operation between organisations including the Prison Service, the Parole Board, the Probation Service and the police. Delays can result […]
Sir John Bourn, the Comptroller and Auditor General, reported to Parliament today that the financial health of the further education sector in England is improving but that 13% of colleges are still in poor financial health. He identified a number of key management practices, which are typical of colleges in good financial health and which […]
Sir John Bourn, the Head of the National Audit Office, today reported to Parliament on the need to strengthen the financial management of European funds and tackle fraud and irregularity, and on the far-reaching programme of reform that the European Commission is seeking to implement over the next two years. Sir John’s report highlights the […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that 23 per cent (over 14,000 houses) of the family quarters estate held in Great Britain by the Ministry of Defence (the Department) was vacant, costing some £39 milliona year in rent and maintenance. The Executive disposed of nearly 2,000 houses in […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that many NHS trusts and orthopaedic consultants apply good practice in the way that they handle total hip replacements. However, there are significant variations in performance, and there is need for good practice to be spread more widely for the benefit of […]
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 […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today that the Office of the Rail Regulator (ORR) have made improvements to their regulation of the stewardship by Railtrack plc of the national railway network, but that much still needs to be done to provide a fully effective regulatory regime for the future. […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, today told Parliament that 122 (82 per cent) of the 150 National Lottery Charities Board funded projects examined by the National Audit Office were progressing as planned. These projects bring real improvements to the lives of disadvantaged people. For example, one project in Edinburgh has provided […]