This briefing was prepared for the Members of the International Development Committee to support the Committee’s inquiry into the work of the Department for International Development in 2009-10.
The NAO’s assessment of the maturity of process management in central government identifies areas of strength and opportunities to improve.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, Amyas Morse, has qualified the 2009-10 accounts of the Legal Services Commission because of overpayments made by the Commission to legal aid providers, estimated at almost £77 million.
The criminal justice system, overseen by the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General’s Office, is intended to cut crime, protect the public and punish offenders.
DWP has not reduced the mistakes made by staff processing benefits. In 2009-10 it overpaid an estimated £1.1 billion and made underpayments of £500 million. However, the scale of the challenge facing the Department should not be underestimated.
The Highways Agency’s PFI contract to widen the M25 could have been better value for money. The slowness with which it was taken forward resulted in higher financing costs, and the Agency was slow to investigate a potentially cheaper alternative to widening.
Improvements and efficiencies have been made in key areas of cancer care since the Cancer Reform Strategy was published. However, a lack of high quality information on costs of cancer services and their outcomes inhibits substantial further improvements.
The Department for Education has made good progress in improving take-up and achievement in areas such as A-Level maths and GCSE Triple Science. However, there has been less success in increasing the number of science teachers, improving take-up of A-Level physics and raising the standards of school science facilities.
Ofcom has saved some £23 million over the last five years. However, with its complex remit across the telecommunications sector, Ofcom needs a better articulation of the intended outcomes of its activities and how its work achieves those outcomes.
Commentary on cost data provided by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to the Advisory Group on Responsibility and Cost Sharing
Central Departmental decisions by the Ministry of Defence to try to balance the defence budget have reduced its cash-flow requirements in the short-term but at a long-term cost that represents poor value for money for the taxpayer.
This briefing paper presents the Regulatory Reform Committee with an overview of regulatory reform, the background to the system and the recent work that the National Audit Office had conducted in the area.
The amount of money being spent by government on external consultants has fallen slightly since 2006-07. However, government is not getting value for money from its use of consultants because it often lacks the information, skills and strategies to manage them effectively.
HMRC might be able to increase tax revenues by providing more support to professional tax agents, third parties paid by taxpayers to act on their behalf in their dealings with the Department.
This submission summarises what the National Audit Office believes to be the fundamental issues that need to be addressed to improve VFM from the low level found by our work and that of the Public Accounts Committee in two reports in 2008.
Many academies are performing impressively in delivering the Academies Programme’s intended improvements. Most academies are achieving greater rates of improvement in academic attainment than their predecessor schools.
Sustainable development is a devolved issue and this briefing covers government policy in England with a brief overview of the work of the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The National Audit Office has prepared this briefing on environmental protection for the new members of the Environmental Audit Committee
This briefing for the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee provides an overview of the key features of the policy and regulatory framework for electricity generation, and the nature of the transition required over the next 10 years to meet emissions reduction and renewable energy targets.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has qualified his audit opinion on the 2009-10 accounts of the Rural Payments Agency because of inaccurate assessments of payments made to farmers under the Single Payment scheme.