The Rural Payments Agency has made good progress, but still has more to do to resolve all the problems it experienced in administering the 2005 EU single payment scheme to farmers in England, according to a report by the National Audit Office. It succeeded in meeting the June 2007 deadline for paying claims under the […]
The NHS as a whole achieved a net surplus of £515 million in 2006-07, compared with a net deficit of £547 million in 2005-06, according to a report out today by the National Audit Office. The NHS Summarised Accounts show that in 2006-07 287 NHS organisations reported a gross surplus of £1,431 million (2005-06: 357 […]
Crisis Resolution Home Treatment teams are having a positive impact on local acute mental health services, providing an alternative to hospital admission for people experiencing a short-term mental health crisis. But a report out today by the National Audit Office found that services are being limited by a lack of input from specialist health and […]
The National Audit Office’s annual report on 20 of the top defence equipment projects shows that, while there has been progress on the majority of projects in the last year, there continue to be time delays and cost increases on some of the major projects. Of the fifteen projects not in service as at April […]
Shared service centres in the NHS and HM Prison Service are on course to deliver substantial financial savings. But a report out today by the National Audit Office found that central government was initially slow to adopt shared services. While the momentum has picked up it is not clear that the shared services initiative is […]
Some departments are on their way towards having a structured and strategic approach to property asset management. But central government departments are still a long way from achieving full value for money from their office accommodation, according to the National Audit Office. In a report out today, the government’s spending watchdog found that departments could […]
The Ministry of Defence’s privatisation of the defence technology business QinetiQ safeguarded the viability of a business of national strategic importance and generated significant proceeds for the taxpayer. However, the NAO believes the taxpayer could have received more money from the deal. Risks remain which the MoD must manage carefully if long term value for […]
The Carbon Trust helped UK businesses and public sector organisations reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by up to an estimated two million tonnes in 2006-07 according to a report out today by the National Audit Office. And its support of emerging low carbon technologies could lead to further sizeable reductions in the future. The Carbon […]
The UK bears the ultimate risk of potential liabilities from its overseas territories such as Anguilla, Montserrat and the Falkland Islands; and, while progress has been made in managing and mitigating these risks since the last report by the National Audit Office in 1997, there is room for improvement, the NAO has reported today. The […]
The National Audit Office has examined the role of of the Department for Transport in assessing the revised proposals for light rail schemes in Leeds, Manchester and South Hampshire. Funding for these three schemes was originally approved by the Department in 2000 and 2001. But substantial increases in projected costs led to the Department withdrawing […]
Government-led initiatives to help unemployed people find work are having a real impact. Programmes such as the New Deal have helped reduce the number of people on benefit, and the average length of claims. However, too many people still do not stay in work once they have found it and more now needs to be […]
The BBC Trust today published an independent review it had commissioned from the National Audit Office (NAO): The BBC’s Preparedness for Digital Switchover which looks in particular at how the BBC plans to meet its obligations set out under the Royal Charter and Agreement.
The pathfinders housing market renewal programme has been running for five years and the government has commited £2.2 billion to it up to 2011. Low demand for housing is now less severe in pathfinder areas and the gap between these areas and surrounding regions has started to close. However, it is not possible to identify […]
The Home Office spent some £28 million on plans to create a purpose-built asylum centre in Bicester, Oxfordshire, following its announcement in 2001 of a major overhaul of the asylum system to speed up the processing of applications from asylum-seekers. In 2005, in the light of improvements to the handling of asylum applications, reduced numbers […]
The Pensions Regulator has been effective in establishing clear links between its statutory objectives and how it goes about meeting them, and has made good progress in addressing the problems left by the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (Opra). The good progress has been acknowledged by the Pensions Regulator stakeholders: 78 per cent of whom believe […]
In March 2007 we were invited by the House of Lords Select Committee on Regulators to review the way that impact assessment is performed by five regulators: Ofcom; Ofgem; Ofwat; Postcomm; and the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR).