The Home Office’s National Offender Management Service should improve its contingency arrangements in case the number of prisoners in custody continues to rise. There were 77,300 prisoners in England and Wales in September 2005 – the highest prisoner population ever recorded – and over the last ten years numbers have risen by over 25,000. Despite […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office reported today that joint targets, and the joint working needed to achieve them, can help to improve the delivery of government objectives. Departments often need to work across organisational boundaries to work most effectively. But achieving joint targets can present particular challenges, especially in the international […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported today that the Department for Work and Pensions provides an effective range of support that helps thousands of disabled people find employment each year. However more needs to be done to increase the number of people assisted into work and to help many of those […]
The National Audit Office’s report finds that London & Continental Railways (LCR) successfully completed the construction of Section 1 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) on time and at a cost slightly below the target set in the 1998 restructuring. Drawing on the reasons for this achievement, the NAO report highlights lessons for other […]
Passengers’ satisfaction with Britain’s railway stations has improved a little in recent years, but remains low for many stations and for many of the facilities provided at them, according to a report by the National Audit Office. There are also increasing passenger capacity pressures at some of the largest stations during peak periods. There is […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported today that the Home Office’s Immigration and Nationality Directorate has increased its capacity for removing failed asylum applicants but the number of people removed or returning voluntarily each month is still less than the number of unsuccessful cases (Based on the period April to December […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported today that contracts agreed by the Home Office in 2000-01 to provide accommodation for asylum seekers have not always proved value for money. The Home Office’s National Asylum Support Service provides accommodation for asylum seekers who are destitute, or likely to become destitute, while their […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office (NAO), reported today that substantial improvements are needed in the way government departments provide funding to Third Sector Organisations (TSOs) to deliver public services. A 2002 Treasury Review made numerous recommendations aimed at improving funding practices relating to TSOs. These recommendations have in the main been […]
The Department has stemmed the fall in the percentage of people filing their tax returns by the deadline, so that just over 90 per cent file their returns by the end of January each year, according to the National Audit Office. However, an estimated £1.1 billion of income tax was outstanding from 1.1 million overdue […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported today that while the Environment Agency provides well-managed and professional water resource management services there is scope to improve efficiency and realise net savings of some £450,000 a year on its activities in England, with a further potential saving of between £1 million to £2 […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today that the Ministry of Defence has a good system for reporting the readiness of its Armed Forces, which continues to improve. More work is required, however, both to better define and measure its Public Service Agreement target for readiness, and to define and […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the NAO, today reported that, following improvements in PFI financing terms, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust has shared in the gains from a refinancing of its early PFI hospital contract, but it continues to pay a premium in respect of the financing costs compared to current deals. […]
Since its creation in 2001, the Public Guardianship Office has improved the quality of information it receives on the stewardship of the financial affairs of people who lose mental capacity. It has begun to target its scrutiny, reducing the regulatory burden on some receivers deemed to be a lower risk, and in some cases where […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported today on the mixed success with which the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is transposing European legislation uinto UK law and preparing for its implementation. Defra deals with more European legislation than any other government department, and its mixed success demonstrates how […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported today that the Ministry of Defence is successfully introducing new management and contractual arrangements to deliver a better quality estate and has embarked on a major programme of estate rationalisation. However, more needs to be done to ensure that the benefits of these changes are […]
Overview The National Audit Office published today its “gold standard” for project control of major defence projects. This aims to help the MoD improve its performance in delivering projects on time and to budget. It forms part of a second in a suite of studies exploring key project success factors and how the MoD and […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported today that the Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) initiative, launched in 2001, is an effective means of improving primary health and social care. The LIFT model has a number of strengths: it takes a long term strategic approach to local health provision which combines the […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported today that the frameworks that the Department for Education and Skills and the Learning and Skills Council have developed and put in place to plan and monitor the further education sector are likely to support systematic planning and provide reasonable assurance. As the frameworks develop, […]