Fraudsters sometimes use the names of National Audit Office (NAO) staff, including the NAO Chair, the head of the NAO the Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG), or derivatives of “National Audit Office”, in an attempt to defraud people. They may also use our address on their letters to try and trick you: One e-mail scam […]
This page is part of our decision support tool. Under procurement [Footnote 1] Above a certain financial threshold, there must, except in certain specified circumstances, be a competition between potential providers [Footnote 2]. Indeed, even for contracts below the threshold values set by public procurement regulations, some form of advertising or open competition is often […]
Between May 2005 and June 2009, there were over 90 reorganisations to central government. But a report released today by the National Audit Office has found that these cannot demonstrate value for money, given that most had vague objectives and that costs and benefits were not tracked. The average annual cost of reorganisations is almost […]
The NAO commends the early progress being made by the Government in implementing its ICT Strategy but has identified areas where progress has not kept pace with the Government’s ambitions.
The Treasury’s 2009 decision to split Northern Rock in two was reasonable at the time but the final net cost to the taxpayer could be some £2 billion.
This report assesses how well pupils with special educational needs and disabilities are being supported.
More could be done to manage the risk of a reduction in the value of EU funds to the UK in the event of a depreciation in the euro.
Despite the fact that the Defra has made improvements in its financial management, the NAO cannot yet conclude that the Department is achieving value for money in its financial management activity.
The Highways Agency’s PFI contract to widen the M25 could have been better value for money. The slowness with which it was taken forward resulted in higher financing costs, and the Agency was slow to investigate a potentially cheaper alternative to widening.
This review examines whether the Department for Transport has in place suitable arrangements to secure value for money from Regional Funding Allocation Programme investment.
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, today reported the results of his examination of the Benefits Agency’s Appropriation Account. Sir John qualified his audit opinion on the account due to the level of benefit fraud and the level of error in benefit awards, principally in income support and jobseeker’s allowance. This account […]
This page is part of our successful commissioning toolkit. Engaging with third sector organisations (TSOs) can provide a number of benefits. For you, it will increase your understanding of: The needs of your programme’s users and of the types of services that might best meet those needs. This will be especially effective in the case of […]
In this report we outline what HM Courts and Tribunals Service’s (HMCTS) change portfolio to modernise and upgrade the justice system will deliver, consider early progress against plans and explore how HMCTS and its partners have managed the change portfolio and the risks it faces in the future.
The Ministry of Defence, under pressure to make rapid financial savings, is significantly reducing the size of its workforce, by over 54,000 personnel. A report today by the National Audit Office has found that these reductions are happening in advance of the Department’s fully understanding how it will operate with significantly fewer staff.
A briefing on the rationale, costs and benefits of the Private Finance Initiative; the use of and impact of PFI, and ability to make savings from operational contracts; and the introduction of PF2. There are currently over 700 operational PFI and PF2 deals, with a capital value of around £60 billion and annual charges for these deals amounted to £10.3 billion in 2016-17. Even if no new deals are entered into, future charges which continue until the 2040s amount to £199 billion.
18 January 2018
Plans to reorganize central government will bring a range of functions closer to ministers, and the Cabinet Office and departments are on course to deliver cost reductions. However, departments do not have a good enough grasp of the one-off costs of the reorganisation or, secondly, of the ongoing costs of continuing to provide the transferred functions.
The welfare cap is encouraging a greater understanding of spending on some benefits and tax credits across government, but it is important that processes for managing the cap are reliable.
Investment of £110bn in electricity infrastructure is needed by 2020 to meet increase in demand, to provide back-up capacity, and because of scheduled closure of one fifth of existing capacity.