Implementing transparency
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.
Showing 821 - 840 of 2227 results
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Review: The NAO’s work on local delivery
Published on:This briefing draws out findings from 46 NAO reports since 2008-09 that are relevant to local delivery. It communicates the wide range of work we have undertaken and the main lessons that have arisen from it.
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The completion and sale of High Speed 1
Published on:The HS1 project has delivered a high performing line, which was subsequently sold in a well-managed way. But international passenger numbers are falling far short of forecasts and the project costs exceed the value of journey time saving benefits.
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Immigration: The Points Based System – Student Route
Published on:This system was implemented by the UK Border Agency with predictable flaws. The Agency has taken little action to prevent and detect students overstaying or working in breach of their visa conditions.
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The Government Procurement Card
Published on:Used appropriately, GPC can be a cost-effective way for government to procure goods and services. However, there is no up to date value-for-money case quantifying the benefits of the cards. There has also been a lack of clear central guidance on when the cards are the most appropriate way to procure goods and services.
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Review of the Conflict Pool
Published on:The Conflict Pool funds discretionary activities that support conflict prevention, stabilisation and contribute to peacekeeping overseas. It is managed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Ministry of Defence (MOD).
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Carbon capture and storage: lessons from the competition for the first UK demonstration
Published on:This competition was launched in 2007 with insufficient planning and recognition of the commercial risks and cancelled four years later. With commercial scale carbon capture and storage technology still to be developed, DECC must learn from the failure of this project.
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Managing early departures in central government
Published on:Departments have acted quickly to reduce staff numbers and this should bring significant savings. To sustain these savings, and deliver long-term value for money improvements, staff numbers must stay at these reduced levels and departments must develop new ways of working.
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Efficiency and reform in government corporate functions through shared service centres
Published on:By creating complex shared services over-tailored to individual departments, government has increased costs rather than made savings.
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Improving the efficiency of central government office property
Published on:Departments have made good progress in improving the efficiency of their office estate. However, in order to achieve the best value for money, departments should stop managing their estates in isolation from one another.
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Compliance checklist
Published on:Our compliance checklist should help Departments and other bodies to assess where they have complied with and adhered to”Corporate Governance in Central Government Departments: Code of Good Practice 2011 (the Code)”, and to identify areas of non-compliance that need to be explained and described in their annual governance statement.
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HMRC The compliance and enforcement programme
Published on:A major HMRC programme to improve the way it tackles evasion delivered £4.32 billion of additional tax yield, reduced staff numbers and improved compliance work. However the Department is not yet exploiting the full potential of its new systems.
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Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission: cost reduction
Published on:Plans by CMEC to reduce its spending are based on uncertain estimates. There is a risk that additional cuts might be needed late on in the Spending Review which could have an adverse effect on services.
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Equity investment in privately financed projects
Published on:Equity investors have helped to deliver many public sector infrastructure projects via the Private Finance Initiative and have managed them in ways from which the public sector can learn. Against a background of limited information, evidence gathered by the National Audit Office raises concern that the public sector is paying more than it should for equity investment.
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Managing change in the Defence workforce
Published on: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.
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Delivering the free entitlement to education for three- and four-year-olds
Published on:The Department for Education has made progress against many of its objectives in delivering the free entitlement to early education, but it must address variations in take-up, quality of provision and the impact on attainment in later years if it is to achieve value for money.
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Cost reduction in central government: summary of progress
Published on:Government departments have been successful in cutting costs and managing within their reduced spending allocations for 2010-11. However, most departments will need to cut their spending by much more over the next four years. This will not be possible without making fundamental changes.
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Adult apprenticeships
Published on:Apprenticeships for adults offer a good return for the public money spent on them overall. However, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills could improve value for money significantly by targeting resources on areas where the greatest economic returns can be achieved.
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Mobile technology in policing
Published on:A programme to equip frontline police officers with mobile devices, such as BlackBerrys and personal data assistants, has achieved a basic level of benefits. However, as the benefits for most forces do not extend beyond this basic level, then value for money has not yet been achieved from the £80 million of expenditure.
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HM Revenue and Customs Renewed Alcohol Strategy: A progress report
Published on:HMRC’s renewed strategy for dealing with alcohol duty fraud is a significant improvement on the previous strategy. However, the Department needs a reliable estimate of the tax gaps for beer and wine; and to tackle successfully the illicit diversion of duty-unpaid alcohol back into the UK market.