The Department for Education has made good progress in improving take-up and achievement in areas such as A-Level maths and GCSE Triple Science. However, there has been less success in increasing the number of science teachers, improving take-up of A-Level physics and raising the standards of school science facilities.
Ofcom has saved some £23 million over the last five years. However, with its complex remit across the telecommunications sector, Ofcom needs a better articulation of the intended outcomes of its activities and how its work achieves those outcomes.
Commentary on cost data provided by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to the Advisory Group on Responsibility and Cost Sharing
Central Departmental decisions by the Ministry of Defence to try to balance the defence budget have reduced its cash-flow requirements in the short-term but at a long-term cost that represents poor value for money for the taxpayer.
This briefing paper presents the Regulatory Reform Committee with an overview of regulatory reform, the background to the system and the recent work that the National Audit Office had conducted in the area.
The amount of money being spent by government on external consultants has fallen slightly since 2006-07. However, government is not getting value for money from its use of consultants because it often lacks the information, skills and strategies to manage them effectively.
HMRC might be able to increase tax revenues by providing more support to professional tax agents, third parties paid by taxpayers to act on their behalf in their dealings with the Department.
This submission summarises what the National Audit Office believes to be the fundamental issues that need to be addressed to improve VFM from the low level found by our work and that of the Public Accounts Committee in two reports in 2008.
Many academies are performing impressively in delivering the Academies Programme’s intended improvements. Most academies are achieving greater rates of improvement in academic attainment than their predecessor schools.
Sustainable development is a devolved issue and this briefing covers government policy in England with a brief overview of the work of the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The National Audit Office has prepared this briefing on environmental protection for the new members of the Environmental Audit Committee
This briefing for the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee provides an overview of the key features of the policy and regulatory framework for electricity generation, and the nature of the transition required over the next 10 years to meet emissions reduction and renewable energy targets.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has qualified his audit opinion on the 2009-10 accounts of the Rural Payments Agency because of inaccurate assessments of payments made to farmers under the Single Payment scheme.
Although Cafcass could not have predicted the sustained increase in care cases from November 2008, it could have responded more quickly and cost effectively to the large and sustained increase in care cases from local authorities.
By setting up an Infrastructure Financing Unit, Treasury helped reactivate the lending market for private finance projects. While the costs for projects in 2009 represented value for money, Treasury should not presume that continuing the use of private finance at current rates will be value for money.
Firebuy, established by the Department for Communities and Local Government to support procurement of kit by Fire and Rescue Services, has cost nearly twice as much to set up and run as the total savings it claims to have delivered.
The Community Care Grant has an important role in helping vulnerable people to establish themselves in the community and in easing pressure on families. The scheme is designed to be flexible so that it can provide help in good time to those who need it but the scheme as currently designed does not deliver value for money.
The Ministry of Defence does not place sufficient emphasis on financial management in its decision making. Annual financial plans at the MOD have been over-committed. During 2009-10 the Department had to find additional savings of £800 million to bring its planned expenditure back into line with its budgets.
This report looks at how much the Treasury’s Value for Money savings programme has improved value for money across government. The programme aims to achieve government-wide annual savings of £35 billion from 2008-09 to 2010-11.
The Department for Business Innovation and Skills and HM Treasury asked the National Audit Office to undertake reviews of the Regional Development Agencies outside London.