The civil service must build on the progress it has made in managing equality, diversity and inclusion and place greater emphasis on departments’ valuing and maximizing the contribution of every member of their staff. This is more likely to deliver the business benefits than solely a focus on levels of representation of groups with ‘protected characteristics’.
Payment by results (PbR) schemes are hard to get right, and are risky and costly for commissioners. Credible evidence for claimed benefits of PbR is now needed.
The new military flying training is 6 years delayed and there is much to do if the MoD is to get the planned benefits from its contractor.
HM Treasury is improving the content of the Whole of Government Accounts, which shows the overall financial position of the UK public sector, and the document has been produced faster than ever.
MOD has made good progress stabilising the equipment programme but needs to set out how a bespoke trading entity will transform Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) into the leading defence acquisition organisation by 2017.
The C&AG has qualified his opinion on the 2013-14 Accounts of the Office for Legal Complaints. This is in part owing to expenses paid to its Chief Executive, the former Accounting Officer of the body, which were not retrospectively approved by the Ministry of Justice.
The Charity Commission has made early progress in addressing NAO and Public Accounts Committee recommendations, but significant challenges remain.
The Department for International Development met, for the calendar year 2013, the government target to spend 0.7% of the UK’s annual gross national income on overseas aid.
There is little evidence that government’s commitment to pay 80% of undisputed invoices within 5 working days is having the intended effect of helping the UK’s 5 million small and medium-sized enterprises.
The DWP has reset Universal Credit on a sounder basis but at significant cost, by extending the time for implementation and choosing a more expensive approach.
HM Treasury and HMRC do not keep track of tax reliefs intended to change behaviour, or adequately report to Parliament on whether tax reliefs work as expected.
The Environment Agency has improved the cost effectiveness and prioritization of its flood risk spending but current spending is insufficient to meet many flood defence maintenance needs.
This review of five major rail projects highlights lessons the Department for Transport should apply to current and future rail programmes.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has qualified his audit opinion owing to the material level of fraud and error in benefit expenditure.
The DWP has simplified the way it administers child maintenance and is approaching expected levels of performance. But overall objectives might be at risk if the number of people using family-based arrangements does not increase.
The economic case for the smart metering programme remains positive but there are significant risks and challenges to successful implementation, which must be managed.
In June 2011, the National Audit Office reported on the system for enforcing consumer law and the Government subsequently made a series of reforms to the consumer landscape. This update report summarises recent changes and sets out the proposed benefits to consumers, businesses and taxpayers as well as the possible risks to be managed.
The Cabinet Office will have to work with other government departments to ensure that the full benefits of its shared services strategy are realised.
The new system of regulating financial services will need to demonstrate in future that the cost of two regulators achieves value for money for customers.
The provision of adequate adult social care poses a significant public service challenge. Demand for care is rising while public spending is falling.