Financial sustainability of local authorities: capital expenditure and resourcing
Published on:Local authorities have kept up levels of capital spending but face pressure to meet debt costs and maintain investment in existing assets.
Local authorities have kept up levels of capital spending but face pressure to meet debt costs and maintain investment in existing assets.
This is an investigation into the contractual arrangements that UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) had in place since 2013-14 for the outsourcing of sector specialist services with PA Consulting. PA received £18.8million in the first year of a contract due to last three years. Following concerns about the way the contract had been priced UKTI terminated the contract in January 2016 and agreed a commercial settlement with PA in May 2016.
The St Helena airport’s planned opening date in May 2016 has been postponed as outstanding safety concerns are addressed, potentially adding to the project’s cost and delaying its benefits.
The Whole of Government Accounts provide a unique perspective owing to their reach and approach to measuring the government’s financial performance and position.
There are currently far too many older people in hospitals who do not need to be there. Without radical action, this problem will worsen and add further financial strain to the NHS and local government.
HMRC aimed to move more customers online thereby reducing staff costs but significant numbers of staff were let go before technical improvements were completed leading to a collapse in service quality in 2015. Services have since improved.
Government’s programme to transfer back-office functions to two shared service centres has made savings but has not achieved value for money to date.
It is important that the Government ensures its compliance programme reflects the changing risks within the labour market, and maintains its progress in ensuring all employers pay the minimum wage.
BBC has improved the way it manages its business critical projects. Most are on course to deliver and achieve their intended benefits but needs to do more to manage its critical projects as a coherent portfolio.
Probation services have been restructured on time and within cost targets during a period of major change but operational problems and risks to further service transformation need to be resolved if re-offending levels are to reduce.
Against a backdrop of increasing pressure on NHS finances, NHS England has not controlled the rising cost of specialised services.
The welfare cap is encouraging a greater understanding of spending on some benefits and tax credits across government, but it is important that processes for managing the cap are reliable.
The Department of Health and NHS England are making progress but much remains to be done to improve access to mental health services.
Devolution deals to devolve power from central government to local areas in England offer opportunities to stimulate economic growth and reform public services for local users, but the arrangements are untested and government could do more to provide confidence that these deals will achieve the benefits intended
The Department of Energy and Climate Change’s Green Deal design not only failed to deliver any meaningful benefit, it increased suppliers’ costs – and therefore energy bills – in meeting their obligations through the ECO scheme.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change’s Green Deal design not only failed to deliver any meaningful benefit, it increased suppliers’ costs – and therefore energy bills – in meeting their obligations through the ECO scheme.
The role and remit of Local Enterprise Partnerships has grown since 2010, but the approach taken by DCLG to overseeing Growth Deals risks future value for money.
There has been a greater focus on enforcing criminal confiscation orders, but there remain fundamental weaknesses in the system.
The Department for Business, Skills and Innovation has not used good quality information to decide which science capital projects to invest in to optimise scientific and economic benefits.
If the government is serious about increasing its use of small and medium – sized enterprises (SMEs), it will need to focus on those areas where SMEs can deliver real benefits.