The level of penalties imposed by the EC has gone down in 2012-13 to £20 million but this is largely caused by administrative delay in the Commission rather than improved compliance by Defra.
The National Audit Office (NAO) has undertaken an efficiency review of the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) delivery of meat hygiene official controls.
This report highlights the key financial results that the C&AG judges to be important to the interpretation of the audited financial statements with respect to the underlying activities and timescales involved.
This fact sheet highlights the findings from NAO work on good practice in sustainability reporting.
Farm oversight activity does not deliver value for money for the taxpayer and continues to burden compliant farmers unnecessarily.
This briefing on Ofgem, a non-ministerial government department, is similar to the briefings we are producing on the 15 major government departments. It is produced primarily as a briefing for the Environment and Climate Change Committee, and is based on Ofgem’s annual report and accounts and our own work relevant to Ofgem.
There are significant uncertainties in plans for cleaning-up Sellafield. The Authority is working to understand and address project under-performance.
Review of a sample of the data systems underpinning the input and impact indicators in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ Business Plan, Common Areas of Spend and wider management information.
Review of a sample of the data systems underpinning the input and impact indicators in the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s Business Plan, Common Areas of Spend and wider management information.
Defra should continue to fund the Agency to complete this programme to improve the management of animal disease and secure the full benefits of the new ICT.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has qualified his audit opinion on the 2011-12 accounts of the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, has published his audit opinion on the 2011-12 accounts of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Rural Payments Agency.
Investment of £110bn in electricity infrastructure is needed by 2020 to meet increase in demand, to provide back-up capacity, and because of scheduled closure of one fifth of existing capacity.
Using competition to award companies licences to transmit electricity from offshore wind farms has benefits but consumers might end up bearing the cost of inflation.
Reported fraud in Employment Programmes is low despite past flaws such as in the New Deal. New improvement controls are better, yet risks remain.
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.
Despite the fact that the Defra has made improvements in its financial management, the NAO cannot yet conclude that the Department is achieving value for money in its financial management activity.
Giving greater responsibility and discretion to local authorities to identify flood risk and target investment raises significant challenges, especially during a time of budget cuts and other newly devolved responsibilities. Greater value for money can be achieved through these reforms, but key elements of what is required are not yet in place.
Defra needs good cost information to scrutinise and challenge its arm’s length bodies, so that it can reduce costs with minimal disruption to frontline services.
The NAO has published its report on the 2010-11 accounts of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.