In a report to Parliament today, head of the NAO Sir John Bourn recognised that the outsourcing of the Department of Social Security’s medical assessment service had reduced costs and speeded up the turnaround of work. But the standard of medical assessments and the quality of service to benefit customers need to improve. The service […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that the failure to introduce the Benefits Payment Card had cost the Department of Social Security some £127 million in nugatory system development. Delays in the Card programme, which was part of a pioneering Private Finance Initiative (PFI) project designed also to […]
This page is part of our decommissioning toolkit. Following an options appraisal to decide on how to improve family support for under-5s, a Children’s Trust decided to move to an outcomes-based specification that was more focused on specific vulnerable young children and parents in the area. What happened? In order to secure the most appropriate […]
The use of confiscation orders to deny criminals the proceeds of their crimes is not proving to be value for money.
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 […]
In 2011-12 HMRC maintained its performance while reducing staff and spending but it is too early to tell what the long-term impact of cost reduction will be.
This page is part of our decommissioning toolkit. It is important to consider the potential impact of decommissioning early enough and thoroughly enough before a decision to decommission a service has been made. Even where full decommissioning does not take place, there will still be impacts on costs and the level and quality of service […]
This investigation examines Greensill Capital’s involvement in the provision of two schemes to the NHS.
This page is part of our successful commissioning toolkit. It is important that financial relationships with third sector organisations (TSOs) are cost-effective, that good value for money is achieved by the programme or service involved. Poor value for money means either that: more needs to be spent to achieve the expected outcomes, leaving less money for other […]
HMRC and the Treasury do not know if incentives designed to increase charitable giving, at a cost to the taxpayer of £940 million in 2012-13, have resulted in more income for charities.
This report outlines how the public service pensions landscape has changed since the Hutton Review and highlights future challenges.
The relocation took place on time and without disruption to broadcasts and should be within budget. But it is too early to judge value for money for licence fee payers.
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.
Find out how government departments score on diversity. Our interactive graphics summarise the findings from Cabinet Office’s People Survey.
BIS will not be well-placed to secure value for money on student loan repayments until it has a more robust strategy to improve collection performance.
The provision of adequate adult social care poses a significant public service challenge. Demand for care is rising while public spending is falling.
The Government’s first sale of shares in Lloyds Banking Group was managed very effectively by United Kingdom Financial Investments Limited.
Better access to public information can improve accountability and service delivery. Government needs a firm grasp of whether that potential is being realised.
This page is part of our decommissioning toolkit. There can be many technical aspects to carrying out decommissioning include workforce considerations, ending of contracts, finances etc. It is important to get professional advice early on in the process, especially because the process of decommissioning can take place very quickly and there may not be time […]