Head of the NAO Sir John Bourn reported to Parliament today that, according to the Department for Work and Pensions’ estimate, £3 billion may have been lost from benefit payments, the same amount as reported in 2001-2002. This constitutes some 2.7 per cent of the £112 billion of gross expenditure recorded in the Department’s resource […]
Sir John Bourn, Head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that although he had qualified his audit opinion on whether the Ministry of Defence’s Resource Accounts for 2002-03 presented a true and fair view, the Department had made further improvements since 2001-02. And he reported that the Department continues to make good […]
Head of the National Audit Office Sir John Bourn has qualified his opinion on the Child Support Agency’s account for the ninth year running because of historical high levels of error in maintenance assessments. Reporting to Parliament today, Sir John said that he had taken this action because, on the basis of his examination of […]
Head of the National Audit Office Sir John Bourn has published a report following his examination of each of the twenty three summarised accounts for the NHS in England. Today’s report draws attention to a number of issues, including the NHS’s overall financial performance, developments in accounting and internal control, fraud, and clinical negligence liabilities. […]
Head of the National Audit Office Sir John Bourn has qualified his audit opinion on the Department for Work and Pensions’ Resource Accounts for 2001-2002 because of significant levels of estimated fraud and error in welfare benefits. As much as £3 billion may have been lost from benefit payments in 2001-2002, according to the Department’s […]
Head of the National Audit Office Sir John Bourn today reported to Parliament that fraudulent and other irregular payments made under the Individual Learning Accounts (ILA) scheme had been estimated as likely to total some £97 million. As a result he has qualified his audit opinion on the Department for Education and Skill’s Resource Account […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, today reported the results of his examination of HM Customs and Excise’s systems for the assessment, collection and allocation of tax revenue during the year ending 31 March 2002. Customs collected £150 billion (gross) in revenue in 2001-2002. In April 2001 the Department reorganised along functional […]
A report by Sir John Bourn, head of the NAO, was published today with the Inland Revenue Resource Account and the Trust Statement account of tax and NI collected. Sir John confirmed that the Inland Revenue continued to secure an effective check over the assessment, collection and allocation of tax during the year 2001-02. During […]
Sir John Bourn, Head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that although he had qualified his audit opinion on whether the Ministry of Defence’s Resource Accounts for 2001-02 presented a true and fair view, the Department had made significant improvements since 2000-01. And he reported that the Department continues to make good […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, today reported to Parliament on the 2001-02 trading fund accounts of the Royal Mint. Sir John noted that the Royal Mint had recorded an operating loss (excluding the one-off costs of a restructuring programme) of £6.5 million for the 2001-02 financial year – its second consecutive […]
Head of the National Audit Office Sir John Bourn has qualified his opinion on the Child Support Agency’s Client Funds account for the eighth year running in the light of continuing high levels of error in maintenance assessments. Sir John reported to Parliament today that he had taken this action because of the estimated level […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported today that he had qualified his opinion on the Office for National Statistics 2001-02 Resource Account. This was because he had insufficient evidence to verify payroll charges, totalling £10.3 million, for piecework carried out by field staff employed on the 2001 Census. According to the […]
Head of the National Audit Office Sir John Bourn today reported that he had qualified his audit opinion on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority accounts for the second year running. Legal restrictions had again prevented him from being able to verify the amount of licence fee income due from clinics but not invoiced by […]
Head of the National Audit Office Sir John Bourn has given an unqualified opinion on each of the 20 NHS summarised accounts, prepared by the Secretary of State for Health from the accounts for individual health organisations. Today’s report from the NAO draws attention to a number of issues, including overall financial performance, fraud in […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office (NAO), has reported to Parliament on the outcome of financial audit work undertaken by the NAO in central government over the past year. Today’s report examines the progress made by government departments in a number of important areas – most notably the development of corporate governance […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, today reported to Parliament on the costs of the departure of Mr Derek Casey, the former Chief Executive of Sport England. In drawing Parliament’s attention to this matter Sir John has not qualified his audit opinion on either the Sport England grant-in-aid or lottery fund accounts […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, today reported to Parliament that the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) was making good progress in tackling vehicle excise duty evasion. Overall the Agency collected gross revenues in excess of £5.2 billion in 2000-01 (an increase of nearly £200 million from 1999-2000). The Agency continues […]
The National Audit Office today reported the results of their examination of HM Customs and Excise’s systems to ensure they provide an effective check on the assessment, collection and allocation of tax revenue during the year ending 31 March 2001. The report includes details of measures taken by HM Customs & Excise to combat fraud. […]
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, today reported to Parliament on the 2000-2001 Teachers’ Pension Scheme (England and Wales) Resource Account. He has limited the scope of the audit opinion because the Managers of the Scheme were unable to provide him at the date of his opinion with sufficient evidence to support […]
There has been a reduction in the estimated loss of social security benefit through fraud and error compared to previous years, according to a National Audit Office report published today. However, the total amount of Income Support and Jobseeker’s Allowance overpaid in 2000-2001, over £1 billion, is still substantial. As a result, head of the […]