The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) met only one of its three targets to reach new audiences by increasing the number of people from underrepresented groups who visit the historic environment by 2007-08. The targets were challenging and DCMS and English Heritage had limited levers to influence more people to visit historic sites. […]
At a cost of £1.47 billion by March 2009, Train to Gain had supported employer-focused training for over one million learners, and had developed a skills brokerage service with which a majority of employers was satisfied. But while Train to Gain has achieved undoubted benefits for employers, the NAO has concluded that over its full […]
The economic downturn has been largely responsible for a £21.7 billion reduction in taxes and duties collected by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in 2008-9, according to a report released today by the National Audit Office. Income Tax and National Insurance contributions fell by £5.7 billion; revenue from VAT fell by £6.4 billion (partly reflecting […]
The Comptroller and Auditor General has qualified the accounts of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) because the EHRC re-engaged, without Treasury authority, seven former senior employees of the former Commission for Racial Equality who had left that body under a voluntary early severance scheme. The EHRC, established in April 2006 and operational from […]
The head of the National Audit Office, the Comptroller and Auditor General, has today qualified the accounts of the Department for Work and Pensions for the 20th consecutive year. The accounts have been qualified because of the material level of fraud and error in expenditure on state benefits, except for State Pension which has a […]
The National Audit Office has identified errors in specialist pay, allowances and expenses paid to the Armed Forces via their Payroll and Human Resources system, as well as the inadequacy of evidence to support certain fixed assets and stock balances in the financial statements. For this reason, the Comptroller and Auditor General has qualified his […]
The Comptroller and Auditor General, the head of the National Audit Office, today reported to Parliament that he has qualified his audit opinion on HM Treasury’s Resource Accounts for 2008-09. This was because, in that year, HM Treasury incurred expenditure of some £24 billion more than Parliament had authorized. This arose because of the need […]
The Department for Communities and Local Government has shown commitment to financial leadership and governance and has improved its financial management over the last couple of years. However, there is more to do for the department to embed good financial management throughout the department and to improve the financial and business management skills of its […]
A review by the National Audit Office of overpayments to public service pensioners totalling £90 million has found a complex and fragmented administrative process, prone to error, and for which there is no clear overall responsibility. The process requires effective joint working between the parties involved (the five public service pension schemes, HM Revenue and […]
Too many people with rheumatoid arthritis are not being diagnosed or treated quickly enough, and some services for people with the disease are not coordinated enough, according to a report published today by the National Audit Office. Delay in treatment is detrimental to patients’ health, their quality of life and, with three quarters of people […]
The Department for Children, Schools and Families is achieving its aim of promoting partnering in secondary education in England, according to a report today by the National Audit Office. Some 87 per cent of schools work with other schools and organisations on improving attainment and behaviour – and headteachers are clear that partnering is delivering […]
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 […]
A report today by the National Audit Office has found that the failure of Metronet – a private infrastructure company responsible for the maintenance and upgrade of sections of the London Underground – has led to an estimated direct loss to the taxpayer of between £170 million and £410 million. There has also been an […]
In a report published today, the National Audit Office has found that the Post Office Network Change Programme has largely met its targets and complied with the undertakings given by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. However, the implementation of some of the new Outreach services, planned for 500 locations where conventional post […]
The National Audit Office has reported today that Government departments and local health and social care organisations do not have enough information on numbers of adults with autism. They also lack a full understanding and awareness of the condition, limiting their ability to plan and deliver services effectively. Autism, which includes Asperger syndrome, is a […]
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 […]
“Intelligent Monitoring” is the term we use for putting into practice the principles of good monitoring and for avoiding the pitfalls of poor practice in monitoring.
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 […]