The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ (BIS’s) free face-to-face advice for people struggling with debt has helped more people than planned, at slightly less than the planned cost per person, and is highly regarded by those that use it. However, demand is now outstripping capacity.
Central government could make large savings by better managing its contracts for services such as IT, security, catering and cleaning, according to a report today by the National Audit Office. Better contract management could potentially generate estimated savings of between £160 million and £290 million a year, across total annual expenditure on service contracts of […]
The cost of clinical negligence in trusts is significant and rising fast, placing increasing financial pressure on an already stretched system.
The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) has increased the number of dangerous commercial vehicles that it removes from the roads from 28,900 in 2007-08 to 36,500 in 2008-09, but the Agency could make better use of its resources and the effectiveness of its roadside checks is constrained according to a National Audit Office report […]
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Natural England have not optimised value for money for the almost £200 million scheme to encourage farmers into organic farming and deliver environmental benefits, according to a National Audit Office report published today. The Organic Entry Level Stewardship scheme is overseen by the Department and run […]
This examines whether the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has achieved the objectives of the UK Green Investment Bank intervention, and whether UK Government Investments has achieved value for money in the subsequent sale of the Bank.
With projected demand falling and costs of carriages rising, there are risks to value for money from plans to increase capacity on the rail network.
Amyas Morse, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) of the National Audit Office, has reported on the 2017-18 accounts of HM Revenue & Customs. His report focuses on tax revenue; Personal Tax Credits and Child Benefit error and fraud; and HMRC’s digital transformation programme.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, Amyas Morse, has for the second successive year qualified his opinion on the financial statements of Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S).
The Department of Health’s strategy for stroke care has increased the priority and awareness of the condition and started to improve patients’ care and outcomes, concludes a report by the National Audit Office published today. Actions taken since 2006 have improved the value for money of stroke care; but improvements have not been universal and […]
The MOD have been unable to provide evidence to support the existence and value of certain assets and inventory balances. In addition, the Department’s accounting policies are not fully compliant with International Financial Reporting Standards.
This investigation focuses on the circumstances relating to the monitoring of Learndirect Ltd by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, the inspection of the company by Ofsted, and the funding of the company by various government bodies.
A National Audit Office review of the regime for overseeing markets and enforcing competition law in the UK has found that it is generally effective and well regarded by comparison with international equivalents. However, the NAO has found that the competition system as a whole must still address a number of challenges to function as […]
The Department of Health has met its target to reduce MRSA bloodstream infections by 50 per cent by 2008 and has made encouraging progress towards its target to reduce Clostridium difficile infections, according to a National Audit Office report published today. However, blood stream infections due to other causes may be increasing. There is also […]
The Building Schools for the Future programme aims to rebuild, refurbish and provide new Information Technology for all 3,500 secondary schools in England by 2020. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) underestimated how long it would take to launch the programme and build the schools, though the speed of delivery has compared well […]
This report examines whether Ofsted’s approach to inspecting schools is providing value for money. We assessed Ofsted’s role, performance and impact.
Young people are making complex choices about higher education without much effective help and advice, and the institutions concerned are under very little competitive pressure to provide best value.
A National Audit Office report has found that the condition of 90 per cent of the Service Families Accommodation in Britain is at the two highest of four standards. However a specially-conducted survey has however revealed that, while 52 per cent of Service families feel their Ministry of Defence accommodation is in a good condition, […]
The Ministry of Defence (the Department) has committed itself to annual rental bills of nearly £200 million and lost out on billions of pounds of asset value as a result of selling and leasing back the majority of its married quarters estate to Annington Property Limited in 1996 because of the subsequent steep increase in house prices and rents.
A third of major government projects due to deliver in the next five years are rated as in doubt or unachievable unless action is taken to improve delivery. Greater transparency on project performance is required.