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 […]
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.
This report examines whether Ofsted’s approach to inspecting schools is providing value for money. We assessed Ofsted’s role, performance and impact.
Reports produced by the House of Commons’ Committee of Public Accounts (the PAC) following hearings based on our PFI and PPP investigations include nearly 1000 recommendations.
We have collected these recommendations and the related Treasury responses into a PFI and PPP/Privatisation Recommendations database last updated: 19/06/2009.
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.
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 […]
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.
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 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 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 […]
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.
The NAO Annual Report highlights that, during 2011-12, we met all our targets. The NAO saved public money through the delivery of £1.1 billion in financial impacts while continuing to deliver in our core areas of expertise, auditing 458 accounts and publishing 60 value for money reports during the year.
This examines the causes of poor performance on the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern network since the franchise began in September 2014, the effects on passenger services, financial outcomes for the operator and the Department, and the Department’s handling of the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise.
To achieve our ambitious strategy we need high performing staff, drawn from as diverse and wide a talent pool as possible who work collaboratively together. Public services are delivered to a diverse society and we should, therefore, reflect diversity considerations in our value-for-money work where this will help our clients improve their services. As a public body we also have a legal obligation to eliminate unlawful discrimination and promote equality and good relations in our own organisation.
The majority of carers who receive benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are satisfied with the support they receive, worth up to £2 billion a year. The Department is delivering carers’ benefits effectively and has made improvements in processing claims in the last few years. But at least a fifth have difficulties […]
There has been much public discussion about the affordability of public service pensions. To inform that debate, the National Audit Office has today published a report designed to bring greater transparency to, and understanding of, the cash costs involved. Today’s report found: Total payments to more than 2 million pensioners in the UK’s four largest […]
There have been improvements in the way government plans and manages public sector activity, but the NAO does not consider that there exists a coherent, enduring framework for planning and management.
This report is published alongside ‘Spending Review 2015’.
There have been improvements in the way government plans and manages public sector activity, but the NAO does not consider that there exists a coherent, enduring framework for planning and management.
This report is published alongside ‘Government’s management of its performance: progress with single departmental plans’.
Schools, especially secondary schools, face real challenges in retaining and developing their teachers. National data suggest progress but mask significant local variation.