UK Government says it is on track to meet target to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020. Local authorities’ ability to secure suitable school places and houses a risk to success. NAO estimate programme will cost £1.12bn by 2020.
Local authorities have kept up levels of capital spending but face pressure to meet debt costs and maintain investment in existing assets.
This briefing has been prepared for the Communities and Local Government Select Committee to provide an overview of the Department for Communities and Local Government’s financial management in 2009-10 and its structural reform priorities.
The majority of carers who receive benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are satisfied with the support they receive, worth up to £2 billion a year. The Department is delivering carers’ benefits effectively and has made improvements in processing claims in the last few years. But at least a fifth have difficulties […]
Local authorities should work more collaboratively with voluntary and community organisations to help them improve the delivery of public services, according to a report out today by the National Audit Office. The report looked at whether Local Area Agreements (LAAs) are helping to promote better value for money in the way government works with the […]
The role and remit of Local Enterprise Partnerships has grown since 2010, but the approach taken by DCLG to overseeing Growth Deals risks future value for money.
There are risks to the long-term effectiveness of a new policy to make sure developers protect or improve biodiversity
The NAO strategy 2014-15 to 2016-17 sets out how our public audit perspective will help Parliament hold government to account and improve public services.
The National Audit Office has today called for a step change improvement in how central government departments work with each other and with regional and local bodies, if the Government’s ambitious aspirations for the Thames Gateway region are to be realised. The Government has set out its vision to make the Thames Gateway, the area […]
HS2 is a large, complex and ambitious programme which is facing cost and time pressures. The unrealistic timetable set for HS2 Ltd by the Department means they are not as ready to deliver as they hoped to be at this point.
This briefing has been prepared for the Communities and Local Government Select Committee on the performance of the Department for Communities and Local Government (the Department) in the 2008‑09 financial year and subsequent months to August 2009.
This briefing has been prepared for the Communities and Local Government Select Committee to provide an overview of the Department for Communities and Local Government’s financial management in 2009-10 and its structural reform priorities.
This study examines whether government understands what is needed to effectively identify and support vulnerable adolescents who are at risk of avoidable adverse outcomes, and who may need costly government interventions if their needs are not addressed.
Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIAs), used to assess the need for, and potential impact of, new regulations, have not always been used effectively, according to a report published today by the National Audit Office. The report finds that RIAs often failed to consider fully the cost and benefit of regulation, and did not take account of […]
The Department is not able to demonstrate the effectiveness of how it and others intervene in underperforming maintained schools and academies.
Substantial savings, in addition to the significant improvements already achieved, could be made by more efficient management and purchasing of postal services by the public sector, according to a report by Parliament’s spending watchdog. The National Audit Office has found that an estimated £31 million a year could be saved across the public sector by […]
The PSNI’s strategy to modernise and rationalise the police estate in Northern Ireland is leading to visible improvements, although there is still much work left to do, according to the National Audit Office. The plans to refurbish and build police stations, and review the need for others, are being taken forward against a challenging background. […]
By operating in a more integrated way, government could reduce inefficiencies in public services and deliver a better service to citizens. A case study on the Whole-Place Community Budget pilots points to the potential benefits on offer where public services are integrated more effectively.