Mistakes in the original procurement and contract management of an IT system, designed to extract data from GP practices, contributed to losses of public funds, through asset write-offs and settlements with suppliers.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s systems for recording and challenging claimed savings at Sellafield give moderate assurance of reported overall savings since 2009-10.
Large-scale infrastructure spending by the private sector over ten years or more will increase consumer utility bills but government and regulators do not know by how much or whether the bills will be affordable.
The Home Office spent at least £830 million between 2003 and 2015 on the e-borders programme and its successors, but has failed, so far, to deliver the full vision. We cannot, therefore view e-borders as having delivered value for money.
The Department was successful in floating Royal Mail. But its approach was marked by deep caution, the price of which was borne by the taxpayer.
All three projects examined by the NAO have experienced significant delays stemming from a range of problems.
The Cabinet Office will have to work with other government departments to ensure that the full benefits of its shared services strategy are realised.
In its sale of the 4G radio spectrum the Office of Communications (Ofcom) achieved its objective of maintaining a competitive market with a number of competing providers.
There is wide variation in the extent to which £79 billion in central funding allocated to local health bodies differs from target allocations that are based on relative need.
• This is NAO’s first report on funding since the 2013 health reforms took effect. Where possible comparisons have been made with funding under the previous system set out in a 2011 NAO report.
The Government Finance Profession’s Finance Leadership Group has published a paper with support from the National Audit Office.
The Department for Education is not meeting its objectives to improve the quality of care and the stability of placements for children in care.
Local authorities have worked hard to manage reductions in government funding, but the DCLG needs to be better informed about the situation across England.
The NAO has highlighted five risks to the value for money of some national infrastructure projects.
The MOD decision to reduce the size of the regular Army and increase the number of trained Army reserves was taken without appropriate testing of feasibility or evaluation of risk.
We publish our examination of the assumptions made by the MOD in its annual statement of its 10-year equipment plan.
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.
Payment by results (PbR) schemes are hard to get right, and are risky and costly for commissioners. Credible evidence for claimed benefits of PbR is now needed.
After a poor start, the performance of the Work Programme is at similar levels to previous programmes but is less than original forecast. The Department has struggled to improve outcomes for harder-to-help groups. The Programme has the potential to offer value for money if it can achieve the higher rates of performance the Department now expects.
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.
Not all local authorities’ Council Tax support scheme will achieve the objectives outlined by the Department of Communities and Local Government.