The Comptroller and Auditor General has qualified his audit opinion on the 2009-10 accounts of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Unfair treatment of consumers, ranging from pressure selling to systematic scams by criminals, is costing billions of pounds each year – but the system for enforcing consumer law is not delivering value for money.
The Department of Health has until recently been focusing on speed of response as a measure of performance of the ambulance service, rather than on clinical outcomes. The service achieves high levels of public satisfaction but there are wide variations in ambulance trusts’ efficiency. The system has not delivered the best value for money to date.
In 2007, the five UK audit agencies jointly launched a set of indicators for each of five corporate service activities – estates management, finance, human resources, ICT, and procurement. Two further services were subsequently added – communications and legal.
The Mortgage Rescue Scheme, launched in January 2009 by the Department for Communities and Local Government, achieved fewer than half of the rescues expected. The Department helped 2,600 households avoid repossession and homelessness at a cost of in excess of £240 million – but it originally expected to help 6,000 households for £205 million.
The suspension and cancellation of a number of key armoured vehicle projects since the 1998 defence review has resulted in the Armed Forces facing a significant shortage in the principal armoured vehicles they require, until at least 2024-2025.
The rate at which electronic care records systems are being put in place across the NHS under the National Programme for IT is falling far below expectations and the core aim that every patient should have an electronic care record under the Programme will not now be achieved.
Being able to measure performance is a key step to managing performance. Most organisations in the public and private sectors use formal performance frameworks as a means to secure coherent performance management and report progress to their boards.
This review examines whether the Department for Transport has in place suitable arrangements to secure value for money from Regional Funding Allocation Programme investment.
Lessons from the large body of experience of using PFI can be applied to improve other forms of procurement. Government should also do more to act as an ‘intelligent customer’ in the procurement and management of projects.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has today reported on the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission’s Client Funds Account 2008-09 and 2009-10.
DFID has improved its core financial management and has an ambitious programme underway to improve its focus on value for money. But it cannot yet assess important aspects of the value for money of the aid it has delivered, at an aggregated level.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has qualified the financial accounts of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) over how the Council has accounted for two of its sponsored institutes, the Institute of Food Research and the Babraham Institute.
This guide explains the audit and support work carried out by the NAO in the international environment.
Aimed at: staff in government departments spending UK funds overseas; Audit Offices and parliamentary oversight bodies in developing countries.
Limitations in Network Rail’s cost information has hampered the ability of the Office of Rail Regulation to assess efficiency savings.
The MOD supply chain is currently not value for money. It would be much more efficient if directed by a modern information system.
Value for money is not being achieved across all trusts in the planning, procurement and use of high value equipment. There are significant variations across England in levels of activity and a lack of comparable information about performance and cost of machine use.
The FCO did well in 2009-10 in quickly bringing its expenditure down to within its budget. However, measurement and evaluation were limited. The FCO’s approach to cost reduction must now be fully strategic and sustainable. It will be vital to avoid damaging value for money through over-simplistic cuts.
We have published good practice for accurate public reporting of savings in Appendix 2 of The Efficiency and Reform Group’s role in improving public sector value for money.
This guidance has been developed from our examinations of the savings programmes in the 2004 and 2007 Spending Review periods.
The Group’s priorities are to improve government efficiency and reform public services. It is too soon to judge its success. This review details various challenges that the Group faces and is intended to provide an objective baseline against which its progress can be assessed.