The BBC Trust today (18 March 2009) published an independent report it had commissioned from the National Audit Office on the BBC’s management of its strategic contracts with the private sector. Jeremy Peat, BBC Trustee, said: “The Trust welcomes this report from the NAO into the BBC’s strategic contracts. We are pleased that the NAO […]
The NAO challenges government and its private sector contractors to work together more effectively in taxpayers’ interest and address the issues behind the current crisis of confidence in contracting out public services.
Shared service centres in the NHS and HM Prison Service are on course to deliver substantial financial savings. But a report out today by the National Audit Office found that central government was initially slow to adopt shared services. While the momentum has picked up it is not clear that the shared services initiative is […]
Most Ministry of Defence projects funded by PFI deals are delivered satisfactorily, on time and on budget. In six of the eight projects examined by the NAO, the Department has generally achieved value for money through effective allocation and management of risks. Failures to identify and manage risks reduced the value for money achieved from […]
The NDA’s fundamental failures in the Magnox contract procurement raise serious questions about its understanding of procurement regulations and its ability to manage large, complex procurements.
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office reported to Parliament today that although the Department of Trade and Industry is responsible for the regulation of weights and measures, it needs better information on the level of protection which is being afforded to consumers. The effect of inaccurate weights and measures being used for […]
This report examines the Department’s support for children’s education during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Prison Service has made significant progress in the way it manages its buying of goods and services such as food, clothing and utilities, the National Audit Office has today reported. In 2003 the National Audit Office found that the Prison Service’s procurement function was “fragmented and costly to deliver”. Since this report, the Prison […]
Option appraisal is crucial to ensure Government decisions are fully informed and based on robust evidence. Appraisals can be applied at project, programme or policy levels, and have particular value when there is pressure to reduce costs while minimising effects on frontline services or the wider economy.
The Medicines Control Agency (MCA) has a good track record, nationally and internationally, in protecting public health and in ensuring that medicines are in general safe, of good quality and effective if used properly. But, according to a National Audit Office report, it needs to do more to improve the quality of information and advice […]
The NAO has today reported on whether the Ministry of Defence has taken appropriate steps to make its fleet of eight Chinook Mk3 helicopters operational. The helicopters were delivered in 2001 but airworthiness concerns mean that they have been kept in storage and not flown operationally. According to today’s report to Parliament, the MoD’s progress […]
This report sets out the landscape of oil and gas decommissioning.
The Department is exerting stronger oversight and sanctioning under-performing providers but there remain issues to resolve, such as more timely identification of underperformance and ineligible payments.
Many NHS trusts need to tackle a range of financial, quality and governance issues if they are to meet the standards required of them to become self-governing foundation trusts by 2014. The Department of Health and the NHS will now have to decide how they will deal with those facing the most severe problems.
This report examines the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s management of the renegotiated contract in place with Cavendish Fluor Partnership.
An initiative, begun in 2004, by the National Offender Management Service to build a single offender management IT system for the prison and probation services has not delivered value for money. A National Audit Office investigation found the project had been hampered by poor management leading to a three-year delay, a doubling in project costs […]
Although the Commission has improved as an organisation, it needs to overcome some persistent issues with the timeliness of some of its regulation activities if it is to sustain further improvement.
The National Audit Office has today published its report on the progress made by the Charity Commission. The Commission is the regulator of charities in England and Wales and is an independent, non-ministerial government department accountable to Parliament.
29 November 2017
This report examines the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) as part of the government’s response to COVID-19 in 2020.