The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has made good progress in its financial management, aiming to establish itself as one of the best departments in Whitehall in this respect. It has shown strong leadership in raising the profile of good financial management across the Department, according to a report today from the National Audit Office. Up […]
The Home Office has made substantial improvements in its financial management since 2006, when the Comptroller and Auditor General disclaimed an opinion on its 2004-05 Resource Accounts. Further sustained improvement will still be needed over the next few years, so that good financial management becomes “business as usual” across all of the Department’s operations, which […]
The National Offender Management Service Executive Agency (NOMS) has obtained good value for money from its expenditure on prison maintenance, the National Audit Office has today reported. In spite of an increasing prisoner population – over 73,000 people held in custody in public sector prisons in England & Wales in 2007-08 – spending has been […]
HM Revenue & Customs faces large peaks in its workload but, by introducing different filing deadlines for paper and online Income Tax Self Assessment returns, it has smoothed some of those peaks. A National Audit Office report today found that, in 2007-08, HMRC received more than a quarter of the 4 million Tax Credit renewals […]
The provision of support for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan is made more difficult because they operate in remote locations and harsh conditions. A report today from the National Audit Office finds that, despite the challenging operational environments, the MOD has successfully delivered around 300,000 personnel and 90,000 tonnes of freight to Iraq and Afghanistan […]
In 2007 the National Audit Office reported that primary care trusts (PCTs) could save more than £200 million a year without compromising patient care if GPs prescribed cheaper, generic medicines. Keele University has now confirmed the NAO’s finding by calculating that almost £400 million has been saved by the Department of Health, the NHS and […]
A report today by the National Audit Office highlights the fall in the number of deaths among both pedestrians and cyclists since the mid-1990s though more remains to be done to improve their safety. The number of deaths among pedestrians has fallen by 36 per cent but Great Britain is some way behind some of […]
Today the National Audit Office has reported that the Department for Work and Pensions increased recoveries of benefit overpayments from £180 million in 2005-06 to £272 million in 2007-08, and preliminary results suggest that the Department has achieved its recovery target of £279 million for 2008-09. But recoveries are not keeping pace with the rate […]
The Department for Children, Schools and Families has made progress in improving its financial management, with strong commitment at senior management and board level, according to a National Audit Office report today. The Department’s ability to reach a high standard of financial management depends partly on successful working with local authorities, other partner organisations, and […]
A National Audit Office report has found that government has strengthened its drive to purchase more environmentally sustainable goods and services. In 2005 the government set a target to be recognised by 2009 as one of the leaders in the EU in sustainable procurement. However a number of departments are not yet on course to […]
A National Audit Office report on UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) has found that, three years into its five-year strategy to deliver improved support to UK exporters, it is close to meeting most of its performance targets. UKTI lacks, however, sufficiently robust measures of the costs of delivering its individual services. Without such information it […]
A report today from the National Audit Office summarises the results of the European Court of Auditors’ examination of the European Union’s accounts for 2007 and progress on the range of initiatives taken forward by the Commission and Member States. For the first time the Court provided a positive Statement of Assurance, without qualification, on […]
Red Dragon – a project by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), Welsh Assembly Government and the then Welsh Development Agency (the Welsh Authorities) to provide modern aviation repair facilities at St Athan, South Wales – has cost the taxpayer around £113 million, although it was meant to have saved MOD money and protected jobs in […]
Government faces increasing pressure to do more with fewer financial resources and, with challenges such as climate change and an ageing population, will require innovation in public services. Since 2006, when the National Audit Office last reported to Parliament on innovation in central government, departments have started to implement some of the report’s recommendations and […]