The reorganisation of neonatal services in England has helped improve care for premature and low birth weight babies with fewer babies travelling long distances for suitable treatment. But, according to the National Audit Office, further improvements to the service are being limited by shortages in nursing staff, a lack of cots in the right place […]
The National Audit Office has found that a good start has been made in preparing for the replacement by 2012 of the analogue television service with a digital one. Eighty-five per cent of households have already switched from analogue to digital TV for their main set. However, consumers will have to convert or replace another […]
The Department of Health and the Information Centre could not demonstrate to the National Audit Office’s satisfaction that they had achieved value for money in establishing Dr Foster Intelligence, a joint venture between the Information Centre and a private sector company Dr Foster LLP. This is primarily because they did not go out to tender […]
Many of the long standing problems in providing offenders with effective and useful learning and skills training have yet to be overcome following the establishment of the Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service (OLASS). Offenders who find employment upon their release are less likely to reoffend, which is why improving their training and skills could contribute […]
In 2006-07, almost 800,000 incidents caused 14 million minutes of delay to rail journeys costing a minimum of £1 billion in terms of time lost to passengers, according to a report released today by the National Audit Office. There was a sharp increase in delay minutes after the Hatfield derailment in October 2000 and the […]
Our diversity strategy helps to support our success by enhancing our capacity through recruiting and retaining talented people from as wide a talent pool as possible, and by getting the best from our diverse workforce ensuring we all work well together and are motivated and supported to deliver the best we can.
Making forms and guidance easier to obtain and understand should help to reduce the unintentional errors by taxpayers and result in more accurate tax assessments. A report from the National Audit Office today proposes improvements which build on changes already introduced by HM Revenue & Customs. Taxpayers can obtain forms and guidance from HM Revenue […]
Two schemes, administered until recently by the Department of Trade and Industry, to compensate miners for damage to their health has resulted in the settlement of some 575,000 claims by March 2007, the payment of £3.6 billion in compensation and administration costs of £1.9 billion. A report out today by the National Audit Office has […]
The UK bears the ultimate risk of potential liabilities from its overseas territories such as Anguilla, Montserrat and the Falkland Islands; and, while progress has been made in managing and mitigating these risks since the last report by the National Audit Office in 1997, there is room for improvement, the NAO has reported today. The […]
Sir John Bourn, Head of the National Audit Office, today reported to Parliament on the Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) accounts for 2005-06. The VED evasion rate increased from 3.4 percent in 2004 to 3.6 percent in 2005 (£147 million). This reversed the previous decrease, and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) acknowledges that it […]
Staff sickness absence in the Department for Transport and its agencies averaged 10.4 days in 2005, costing the taxpayer around £24 million a year, according to a new NAO report published today. Performance varies across the Department, and some parts such as the central department, the Highways Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency compare […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that, halfway into the three-year efficiency programme, government departments have reported £13.3 billion in annual efficiency savings, 62 per cent of the £21.5 billion target. But departments’ progress towards achieving their individual targets varies, indicating that some departments still have a lot […]
Four out of five students starting a full-time course in England are expected to complete their course, the NAO reported today. The United Kingdom’s performance on retention compares favourably with most other OECD countries, during a period of expansion in higher education. In a new report to Parliament, published as students await their A level […]
The BBC Trust today published an independent review it had commissioned from the National Audit Office (NAO): The BBC’s Preparedness for Digital Switchover which looks in particular at how the BBC plans to meet its obligations set out under the Royal Charter and Agreement.
The newly-created Competition and Markets Authority has made significant progress in improving how the UK’s competition regime works, and it is now more coherent than before. Business awareness of competition law, however, is low and while it has improved the robustness of its enforcement casework, the regime has so far not produced a substantial flow of enforcement decisions or fines.
HS2 is a large, complex and ambitious programme which is facing cost and time pressures. The unrealistic timetable set for HS2 Ltd by the Department means they are not as ready to deliver as they hoped to be at this point.
The Environment Agency has made a number of improvements in the management of flood risk since 2001. Despite this, the Agency has not met its target to maintain 63 per cent of England’s flood defence systems in their target condition. A report out today by the National Audit Office highlights a number of improvements to […]
The Shareholder Executive has improved government’s performance as owner of public businesses and is already producing some real financial gains for the public sector, according to a report out today by the National Audit Office. But increasing the Executive’s powers, such as expanding its remit to cover all public sector businesses and giving it greater […]
Despite a steeply rising trend in cases of dementia, the condition is being given too low a priority by health and social services, according to a report out today by the National Audit Office. Too few people are being diagnosed, or being diagnosed early enough, and early interventions known to be cost-effective are not being […]
The new contract for general practice has contributed to improved recruitment and retention of GPs, with numbers increasing from 26,833 to 30,931 since 2003. However, according to a report out today by the National Audit Office, the contract has cost the Department £1.76 billion more than it originally budgeted for. Today’s report found that, in […]