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  1. Implementing transparency

    Report Value for money

    Published on:

    Better access to public information can improve accountability and service delivery. Government needs a firm grasp of whether that potential is being realised.

  2. Successful commissioning toolkit
    Practical issues

    This page is part of our successful commissioning toolkit. Using grant While grant making is less regulated than procurement, there remain important rules you need to follow if you choose this approach as the basis for a financial relationship. Elsewhere, we discuss the need for a power to pay a grant, and for the need to […]

  4. Homelessness in England Visualisation

    Report Interactive visualisation

    Published on:

    Explore the broad trends identified by our report Homelessness and build a richer understanding of what they mean for different parts of the country.

  5. Successful commissioning toolkit
    Grant or procurement?

    This page is part of our successful commissioning toolkit. The rules on when you can use grant and when you can use procurement mean there are many situations when a public body could use either. You need to decide which one is more suitable for your programme, service or intended outcome and is likely to provide the […]

  6. The Drug Treatment and Testing Order: early lessons

    Report Value for money

    Published on:

    The Drug Treatment and Testing Order can be a successful community sentence for some drug misusing offenders who would otherwise have been considered for a prison sentence, according to a report to Parliament today by the National Audit Office. However, only 28 per cent of Orders terminated in 2003 were completed in full or were […]

  7. Successful commissioning toolkit
    What are third sector organisations and their benefits for commissioners?

    This page is part of our successful commissioning toolkit. What are third sector organisations? ‘Third sector organisations’ is a term used to describe the range of organisations that are neither public sector nor private sector. It includes voluntary and community organisations (both registered charities and other organisations such as associations, self-help groups and community groups), social enterprises, mutuals and […]

  10. Community Legal Service: the introduction of contracting

    Report Value for money

    Published on:

    The introduction of new arrangements in 2000 for the funding of civil legal aid has led to better scrutiny by the Legal Services Commission of the work of its suppliers and a greater degree of control over the civil legal aid budget, according to Sir John Bourn, Head of the National Audit Office. As the […]

  11. Decommissioning toolkit
    Working with TSOs: What does good practice look like?

    This page is part of our decommissioning toolkit. The table outlines what good practice should look like in some of the key areas relating to understanding needs and making a decision to decommission. It identifies the risks of not following good practice and looks at how these risks might be mitigated and what actions commissioners […]

  12. Welfare to Work: Tackling the Barriers to the Employment of Older People

    Report Value for money

    Published on:

    Sir John Bourn, Head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that good progress has been made in recent years in increasing the overall employment rate for older people. The gap between the proportion of older people in work compared to the general working population has also narrowed by 1 per cent over […]

  13. Getting it right, putting it right – Improving decision-making and appeals in social security benefits

    Report Value for money

    Published on:

    Following reforms to decision-making and the appeal process in social security benefits, introduced in 1999 by the Department for Work and Pensions, the number of appeals against decisions has fallen overall by around 15 per cent and waiting times for appeal hearings have been cut. Since the reforms, decision-making performance for some benefits, but not […]

  14. Successful commissioning toolkit
    Why, what and who for?

    This page is part of our successful commissioning toolkit. Constructing and maintaining good financial relationships between public bodies and third sector organisations (TSOs) has never been straightforward. If anything, achieving this has become more difficult as more and more financial relationships are made through public sector commissioning processes. But good financial relationships are important – to help achieve […]

  16. The Implementation of the National Probation Service Information Systems Strategy

    Report Value for money

    Published on:

    The National Probation Service Information Systems Strategy (NPSISS) network is operating in 38 out of the 42 new local probation areas in England and Wales. Nevertheless, there were serious problems in the development of a case recording and management system, known as CRAMS, leading to its use by a minority of probation service areas. During […]

  18. Successful commissioning toolkit
    Working with third sector organisations

    This page is part of our successful commissioning toolkit. The public sector constructs and maintains many financial relationships with third sector organisations (TSOs). Commonly, the public body pays the TSO for the provision of a service [Note 1] specified by the public body [Note 2]. Practical example: Service specified by public body In one area, the local […]

  19. Protecting consumers from scams, unfair trading and unsafe goods

    Press release

    Published on:

    The report examines the system protecting consumers from scams, unfair trading, and unsafe goods. BEIS has made progress since our 2011 review, but needs to do more, particularly in the context of the growth of e-commerce.

  20. Successful commissioning toolkit
    Scale of financing

    This page is part of our successful commissioning toolkit. For a public body, widening the geographic scope, or adding to the range, of services to be delivered, and thus the financial value of a grant or contract, can deliver economies of scale.  However, this can deter many third sector organisations (TSOs), which may be small organisations, […]