Governance Issues in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment's Former Local Enterprise Development Unit in Relation to the Establishment and Oversight of the Emerging Business Trust Loan and Venture Funds PDF Download
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Author: Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Audit Office Publisher: The Stationery Office ISBN: 0102939659 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 64
Book Description
This report examines major weaknesses in the part played by the former Local Enterprise Development Unit (LEDU) in the establishment and oversight of the Emerging Business Trust (EBT). The ETB was created in 1996 with funds of £3 million provided by the International Fund for Ireland and £0.75 million by LEDU, mainly administering a loan fund. In 2000 EBT also established a venture fund, with a total funding of £0.6 million. EBT voluntarily ceased to carry on business in April 2005, and a liquidator was appointed to wind up the affairs of both the loan and venture funds. Invest Northern Ireland (a development agency which assumed the responsibilities of LEDU in 2002) carried out an investigation, which identified a long list of failings: conflicts of interest, especially involving a LEDU board member who was also a partner in MTF Chartered Accountants who were the managing agents of both funds; LEDU's failure to follow its own procedures; normal public sector rules on competitive tendering were not followed; a high level of bad debt (£1.1 million was written off); insufficient monitoring by LEDU. NIAO finds that many of these failings show non-observance of the Public Accounts Committee's recommendations in its report "The proper conduct of public business" (HC 154, 8th report session 1993-94). The poor standards of administration fell far below the normal standards operating elsewhere in the Northern Ireland public sector. Invest Northern Ireland and the Department have undertaken a number of actions and current corporate governance arrangements are very different. NIAO believes there are lessons of relevance here to the wider public sector.
Author: Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Audit Office Publisher: The Stationery Office ISBN: 0102939659 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 64
Book Description
This report examines major weaknesses in the part played by the former Local Enterprise Development Unit (LEDU) in the establishment and oversight of the Emerging Business Trust (EBT). The ETB was created in 1996 with funds of £3 million provided by the International Fund for Ireland and £0.75 million by LEDU, mainly administering a loan fund. In 2000 EBT also established a venture fund, with a total funding of £0.6 million. EBT voluntarily ceased to carry on business in April 2005, and a liquidator was appointed to wind up the affairs of both the loan and venture funds. Invest Northern Ireland (a development agency which assumed the responsibilities of LEDU in 2002) carried out an investigation, which identified a long list of failings: conflicts of interest, especially involving a LEDU board member who was also a partner in MTF Chartered Accountants who were the managing agents of both funds; LEDU's failure to follow its own procedures; normal public sector rules on competitive tendering were not followed; a high level of bad debt (£1.1 million was written off); insufficient monitoring by LEDU. NIAO finds that many of these failings show non-observance of the Public Accounts Committee's recommendations in its report "The proper conduct of public business" (HC 154, 8th report session 1993-94). The poor standards of administration fell far below the normal standards operating elsewhere in the Northern Ireland public sector. Invest Northern Ireland and the Department have undertaken a number of actions and current corporate governance arrangements are very different. NIAO believes there are lessons of relevance here to the wider public sector.
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts Publisher: The Stationery Office ISBN: 9780215029683 Category : Medical Languages : en Pages : 52
Book Description
Strokes are one of the top three causes of death in England and a leading cause of adult disability. There are 110,000 strokes each year in England, with a quarter occurring to people under 65 years. Some 300,000 people in England are living with moderate to severe disabilities as a result of a stroke. As the NAO report on this subject pointed out (HCP 452, session 05/06 NAO ISBN 010293570X), it costs the economy in total about £7 billion a year, with the direct cost to the NHS about £2.8 billion. This Committee of Public Accounts report takes evidence from the Department of Health and sets out a number of recommendations. The cost of stroke, in both economic and human terms, could be reduced by re-organizing existing services more effectively. Brain scans of many stroke patients are being delayed, everyone who suffers a stroke should be scanned as soon as possible after arrival in hospital, and should not wait more than 24 hours. Stroke patients should spend longer in hospital on a stroke unit, this could reduce the number of deaths. There needs to be an increase in the number of consultants who have training in dealing with strokes, as well as therapists and other specialist staff with expertise in stroke care across the primary and secondary healthcare sectors. The Department of Health should improve provision of information to stroke survivors and carers, so they are made more aware of the support services available. The Department should run an awareness campaign to improve public knowledge about strokes
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts Publisher: The Stationery Office ISBN: 9780215029621 Category : Medical Languages : en Pages : 52
Book Description
Everyday the NHS successfully treats over 1 million people. However there are risks and treatments can go wrong. A report by the Chief Medical Officer in 2000, ('An organisation with a memory', ISBN 0113224419) estimated that one in ten patients admitted to hospital were unintentionally harmed and that a blame culture and lack of a national system for sharing experience were key barriers to reducing the number of patient safety incidents. In Government's response included plans, timetables and targets to promote patient safety and the establishment of the National Patient Safety Agency. This report finds that insufficient progress has been made. In particular there is a question mark over the National Patient Safety Agency because of cost over-runs and delays in its National Reporting and Learning System and the limited feedback it has so far provided to trusts.
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts Publisher: The Stationery Office ISBN: 9780215029416 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 44
Book Description
Companies resident or conducting business in the UK are liable to pay corporation tax on their profits, and since 1999 corporation tax is a self-assessed tax. Companies are required to submit tax returns each year along with any tax due, and these tax returns are then checked for non-compliance. In 2004-05, HM Revenue and Customs collected about £33 billion in corporation tax, and it expects receipts to increase to £42 billion in 2005-06. Following on from a National Audit Office report (HC 678, session 2005-06; ISBN 0102936641) published in January 2006, the Committee's report examines the management of Corporation Tax and sets out a number of conclusions and recommendations. Given an estimated 40 per cent error rate in tax returns, the Department should improve its targeting of enquiries into tax returns for non-compliance and its use of risk assessment techniques in order to increase the tax yield. Plans to restructure the local area office network should help reduce local variations in performance and improve efficiency in enquiry work. All companies will be required to file their tax returns electronically by 2010, and this system should realise a number of benefits, including greater convenience for companies and a reduction in Department's costs and errors in keying-in data.
Author: Derek Birrell Publisher: Manchester University Press ISBN: 1847797172 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 395
Book Description
This is the first comprehensive study of direct rule as the system of governance which operated in Northern Ireland for most of the period between 1972 and 2007. The major institutions of governance are described and examined in detail, including the often neglected sectors of the role of the Westminster parliament, the civil service, local government, quangos, ombudsmen offices, cross-border structures and the public expenditure process. The book explains how the complex system covering transferred, reserved and excepted functions worked and provided viable governance despite political violence, constitutional conflict and political party disagreements. In addition, a comparison is drawn between direct rule and devolution, analysing both the positive and negative impact of direct rule, as well as identifying where there has been minimal divergence in processes and outcomes. It will prove an invaluable reference source on direct rule and provide a comparative basis for assessing devolution for students of public administration, government, politics, public policy and devolution.
Author: Maura Adshead Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 1137020326 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 288
Book Description
Politics in Ireland is the first major text to provide an accessible and systematic analysis of the politics of Ireland: North as well as South. With the development of a new Northern Irish political system and increasing links across the island, the authors argue that the time is ripe to study together the two polities, which share so much of a common history but which have had very different evolutions through the 20th century. Drawing upon an exceptionally wide range of sources and their own original research, the authors deploy a thematic approach to the study of political institutions, political behaviour and public policy in both the Republic and Northern Ireland in order to produce a detailed, but highly readable, assessment of governance and politics in both political systems. This approach enables them both to outline the differences and similarities between the polities and to explain how they relate to the wider world, in particular to the UK and to Europe.
Author: Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Audit Office Publisher: The Stationery Office ISBN: 9780102939705 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 48
Book Description
The company Into the West (ITW) was established in 1997 as a partnership between the former Local Enterprise Development Unit and five district councils in Northern Ireland to promote local economic development in the Tyrone and Fermanagh area. Following a joint investigation by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment and the Local Government Auditor into allegations of financial impropriety and poor management controls involving considerable sums of public money, ITW's activities were suspended from March 2002, and the company entered voluntary liquidation in June 2004. This report by the Northern Ireland Audit Office focuses on ITW's use of overseas agents (based in Australia, New Zealand and North America) to help promote joint business ventures between local firms and overseas companies. It draws a number of conclusions in relation to: the standard of documentation, the appointment of agents and the contractual arrangements involved, management and control procedures, payments to agents and performance, and the poor planning of a proposed visit to Australia; and based on these findings sets out a number of good practice recommendations for the use of agents by government departments and other public bodies in the future.
Author: Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Audit Office Publisher: The Stationery Office ISBN: 9780102948165 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 44
Book Description
Strengthening governance in the public sector is seen as a means of improving the capability of public bodies to deliver high quality services. The need to promote and encourage good corporate governance within departments and arms length bodies (ALBs) in Northern Ireland has been underscored by several high profile cases of weaknesses which became the subject of recent NIAO/Public Accounts Committee reports: the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, education and library boards, and LEDU. This report, based on a review of six departments and ten of their ALBs, examines three main areas: (1) structural relationships; (2) management of sponsorship risks; (3) accountability. Structures within departments for dealing with sponsored bodies should be clearly defined with clear channels of management, accountability and communication. A coherent strategic management approach should promote consistency of business objectives. Departments and ALBs should co-operate in setting objectives, agreeing targets. Departments should ensure that ALBs have in place necessary financial and management controls and procedures. On risk, departments should have processes in place for the identification and management of risks associated with sponsorship, and these should be regularly reviewed. Internal audit can provide assurance on risk management. To safeguard accountability, effective liaison, reporting and monitoring arrangements are required. ALB boards, and departmental and ALB audit committees have crucial roles in accountability.
Author: Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Audit Office
Author: Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Audit Office
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Author: Derek Birrell
Author: Maura Adshead
Author: Stationery Office (Great Britain)
Author: Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Audit Office
Author: Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Audit Office
Author: Lagan Consulting