Shared service centres in the NHS and HM Prison Service are on course to deliver substantial financial savings. But a report out today by the National Audit Office found that central government was initially slow to adopt shared services. While the momentum has picked up it is not clear that the shared services initiative is […]
The NAO challenges government and its private sector contractors to work together more effectively in taxpayers’ interest and address the issues behind the current crisis of confidence in contracting out public services.
This page is part of our decision support tool. Large scale contracts can bring benefits through reduced procurement and contract management costs, but they do not always offer the best value for money and may, in the long term, reduce the diversity of the supplier base. You should consider whether the contract should be divided […]
This investigation sets out the facts relating to government procurement during the COVID-19 pandemic up to 31 July 2020.
Plans to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of services such as human resources, payroll and finance could cost the Department for Transport £81 million (by March 2015) rather than saving £57 million as originally expected. There will need to be substantial improvements in the shared service centre’s productivity if the Department’s original targets are to […]
The NAO has today reported on whether the Ministry of Defence has taken appropriate steps to make its fleet of eight Chinook Mk3 helicopters operational. The helicopters were delivered in 2001 but airworthiness concerns mean that they have been kept in storage and not flown operationally. According to today’s report to Parliament, the MoD’s progress […]
An initiative, begun in 2004, by the National Offender Management Service to build a single offender management IT system for the prison and probation services has not delivered value for money. A National Audit Office investigation found the project had been hampered by poor management leading to a three-year delay, a doubling in project costs […]
This report examines government’s progress in securing potential vaccines and determining how they will be deployed to the public.
This report examines the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) as part of the government’s response to COVID-19 in 2020.
The new contract for general practice has contributed to improved recruitment and retention of GPs, with numbers increasing from 26,833 to 30,931 since 2003. However, according to a report out today by the National Audit Office, the contract has cost the Department £1.76 billion more than it originally budgeted for. Today’s report found that, in […]
This is the second NAO report on government’s approach to test and trace services in England.
The NAO challenges government and its private sector contractors to work together more effectively in taxpayers’ interest and address the issues behind the current crisis of confidence in contracting out public services.
In its progress report on the Olympic and Paralympic Games the National Audit Office has found that with four years to go until the start of the Games, the preparations have progressed in important ways. In particular, there has been good progress in preparing the Olympic Park site and construction activities are broadly on track. […]
The changes to how the Ministry of Defence maintains and repairs Harrier and Tornado aircraft have reduced costs by a total of £1.4 billion over the last six years. Although availability of the aircraft temporarily declined during the transition period, availability targets for the Harrier are now being met and for the Tornado, where the […]
This investigation provides an account of how public money was used to increase the number of ventilators available to the NHS.
The majority of government departments and agencies are failing to meet targets to make their new buildings and major refurbishments sustainable, according to a report published today by the National Audit Office. As a result, value for money may be lost from the £3billion which departments and agencies spend each year on this activity. A […]
The Building Schools for the Future programme aims to rebuild, refurbish and provide new Information Technology for all 3,500 secondary schools in England by 2020. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) underestimated how long it would take to launch the programme and build the schools, though the speed of delivery has compared well […]
IT services are crucial for HM Revenue & Customs’ business. In its procurement of the £3 billion IT outsourcing contract, ASPIRE, the Department secured competition for a contract which meets its IT needs, and completed the transfer to the new supplier Capgemini without loss of service to customers. The Department secured the competition by contributing […]