In December 2015 a five year contract, worth around £800 million between UnitingCare Partnership and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough clinical commissioning group collapsed after only 8 months because it ran into financial difficulties. NAO examined the design, procurement and operation of the contract and the events that led to its termination.
Against a backdrop of increasing pressure on NHS finances, NHS England has not controlled the rising cost of specialised services.
The National Audit Office has today reported to Parliament that there are risks to value for money from the way the Legal Services Commission (the LSC) administers and procures legal aid for criminal cases. In 2008-09, the Commission spent more than £1.1 billion on criminal legal aid – legal assistance for people suspected of or […]
The government is not consistently supporting prison leavers in resettling into the community, a new report by the NAO has found.
If the government is serious about increasing its use of small and medium – sized enterprises (SMEs), it will need to focus on those areas where SMEs can deliver real benefits.
This report examines progress in establishing Integrated Care Systems in England.
Government has gaps in its capability and must do more to develop the skills needed. It is making plans, but the scale of the challenge means greater urgency is needed.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, Amyas Morse, has qualified the 2009-10 accounts of the Legal Services Commission because of overpayments made by the Commission to legal aid providers, estimated at almost £77 million.
Services and outcomes for people with neurological conditions need further improvement.
This page is part of our decommissioning toolkit. Commissioners need to understand what the drivers for change are and the motivations that lead to decommissioning. This will have an impact on the process of decommissioning and other factors such as timescales and levels of engagement with stakeholders. Our research found a wide set of drivers […]
This page is part of our decommissioning toolkit. Decommissioning happens in a wide range of circumstances, including: Ending a service completely i.e. no re-commissioning of a service occurs; Combining parts of existing services into a new, different one; As part of wider service redesign, where a service is no longer provided and is decommissioned or […]
This report outlines the importance of recognising and adequately managing conflicts of interest.
This page is part of our decommissioning toolkit. Effective decommissioning comes from careful consideration of decommissioning issues and the application of good practice at each and every stage of the commissioning cycle. We look at the issues that arise and good practice that should be applied at different stages. The stages correlate to those used […]
This page is part of our successful commissioning toolkit. The Government is working to improve commissioning to get the best possible services that deliver value for money. Previously, the then Office of the Third Sector outlined eight principles of good commissioning. If embedded, these could yield efficiency gains and community benefits, through smarter, more effective and […]
The head of the National Audit Office, the Comptroller and Auditor General, has today qualified the accounts of the Legal Services Commission for 2008-09 because of overpayments made by the Commission to solicitors, estimated at almost £25 million.
The Department of Health and NHS England are making progress but much remains to be done to improve access to mental health services.
There was a surplus of £2.1 billion across the NHS in 2012-13, matching that in 2011-12. However, there are signs of increasing pressure.
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 […]
This page is part of our decommissioning toolkit. How to decommission public services delivered by third sector organisations and maintain value for money Introduction The Decommissioning guide seeks to provide practical advice on how to plan for and manage the decommissioning of public services delivered by third sector organisations (TSOs) and maintain value for money while doing […]
This page is part of our decommissioning toolkit. Whether you are commissioning or decommissioning a service or service provider, proportionate monitoring and evaluation are both elements of good management practice. This section looks at issues around decommissioning and: Monitoring the impact on users and providers Evaluating the process of decommissioning Monitoring and evaluation: What good […]