Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts Publisher: The Stationery Office ISBN: 9780215019622 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 68
Book Description
In July 2002, the Government announced a public expenditure increase of £61 billion over three years, to be targeted at improving key public services. The three largest recipients of the extra funding were the Department for Education and Skills, the Department of Health and the Department for Transport. Following on from a NAO report on this topic (HCP 234, session 2003-04; ISBN 0102927103) published in January 2004, the Committee's report examines how these departments are using their extra resources, focusing on three main issues: the complexity of the service deliver chain, how they can secure further improvements in service quality, and performance monitoring and benchmarking. Conclusions reached include that, complex delivery chains and financing mechanisms need to be simplified, and a direct link established between funding and specific targets for service improvements. As all three departments deliver services indirectly through a network of partners and contractors, they need to ensure delivery partners have sufficient capability and capacity to deliver services effectively. Departments should also share information on their plans to increase delivery capacity more widely among key suppliers.
Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office Publisher: The Stationery Office ISBN: 9780102930368 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 88
Book Description
In recent years a great deal of effort has been put into improving risk management in departments and in 2002 this was given further impetus when a two year risk programme was launched by the Prime Minister. This report looks at the progress made since the previous NAO report in 2000 (HC 864 1999-2000, ISBN 0105569488). It is based on a survey of the 20 main Whitehall departments, focus groups of 27 departmental risk managers, comparisons with the private sector, academic research and five case studies. The general conclusion is that significant improvement has been made but more needs to be done to make effective risk management a central part of general management processes. The ability to take risks and innovate, keep projects on track and handle complex service delivery needs to be further developed.
Author: Great Britain. National Audit Office Publisher: The Stationery Office ISBN: 9780102930375 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 64
Book Description
The single Community Programme is a Government initiative which seeks to encourage local community participation in local policy-making across England and in the design of the public services they receive. The initiative is expected to cost around £182 million between the years 2001-2006 and targets the most deprived local authority districts in England. It seeks to ensure the representation of diverse community needs through the provision of grants to community groups involved in improving their neighbourhoods, and support for community empowerment networks that help communities influence local decision-making. The scheme has so far supported around 25,000 separate self-help and community projects, funded directly through local voluntary sector organisations. This report focuses on the effectiveness of the single Community Programme in encouraging communities to get involved in neighbourhood renewal and regeneration schemes, and seeks to identify broader lessons of relevance to community participation initiatives across the whole of government.
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts Publisher: The Stationery Office ISBN: 9780215019660 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 86
Book Description
The Major Projects Report 2003 provides information on progress made by the Ministry of Defence in procuring major defence equipment against cost, time and technical performance targets. It covers 30 projects split, according to Smart Acquisition principles, between the 20 largest projects on which the main investment decision has been taken, and the 10 largest projects yet to reach that point. For the 20 largest projects, costs are forecast to have increased by £3.1 billion in the last year, and are now 6.1 per cent over their approved costs. Difficulties on four older projects (which predate the introduction of Smart Acquisition) account for the majority of cost and time overruns. Following on from a NAO report on this topic (HCP 195, session 2003-04; ISBN 0102926581) published in January 2004, the Committee's report examines four main issues: the impact of the large cost overruns and delays; departmental risk management; ways of developing a more constructive relationship between the Department and industry; and lessons that need to be learned to avoid such poor procurement performance being repeated in future.
Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts Publisher: The Stationery Office ISBN: 9780215020352 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 52
Book Description
The Inland Revenue collects over £200 billion a year in tax and National Insurance contributions from 30 million taxpayers, ranging from individuals to multinational corporations. The total amount of debt from unpaid taxes stood at £12 billion at the end of March 2004, of which £3 billion was more than a year old. Following on from a NAO report (HCP 363, session 2003-04; ISBN 0102927596) published in March 2004, the Committee has examined the progress made by the Inland Revenue to speed up debt recovery, whether more can be done to encourage prompt payment and the application of good practice in debt management. Findings include that the Department should impose a surcharge on persistent late payers; use other government departmental records to find taxpayers it cannot trace; seek additional powers for enforcing debts similar to those of other tax authorities; and include debt management data in its performance measures.
Author: Great Britain. National Audit Office Publisher: The Stationery Office ISBN: 9780102928242 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 56
Book Description
UK farmers currently receive nearly [pound]3 billion a year in subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy. However, CAP reforms agreed in June 2003 will mean a step-change in the way agricultural subsidies will be paid in the future, based on the concept of 'decoupling' which will break the link between production and subsidy, and will give farmers the opportunity to focus on consumer market demand. This report by the National Audit Office examines a range of issues involved in farm business development support in England and makes recommendations for improvements to the operation of existing schemes which run to 2006 and the next phase of schemes to run from 2007 to 2013. Issues discussed include: DEFRA's strategy for sustainable farming covering the food chain as a whole; development scheme take-up levels, budget spend, application and assessment procedures, impact and evaluation; business support needs including advice and training, and tailoring schemes to meet local needs; comparisons with rural development schemes in Wales and Northern Ireland, in a number of other countries in Europe, as well as in the United States, Canada and New Zealand
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts Publisher: The Stationery Office ISBN: 9780215019639 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 40
Book Description
Following on from a NAO report on this topic (HCP 1186, session 2002-03; ISBN 0102923590) published in October 2003, the Committee's report focuses on the work of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in trying to prevent plant pests and diseases from entering the country and in managing and preventing the spread of outbreaks when they occur. The main impacts from plant pests and diseases are economic ones, and DEFRA spends £8 million each year on import controls and a further £14 million researching the diagnosis and control of pests. Its work is subject to two main international agreements, as well as WTO requirements that stipulate import controls must have a scientific basis and must not be used as a barrier to trade. Recommendations include that DEFRA should: reassess current inspection targets using cost-benefit analyses; establish a peer review system to provide assurance on the quality of inspections; work with industry and supermarkets to improve food labelling to raise consumer awareness of the UK's standards for plant health; address the inconsistencies in current farmer compensation arrangements and explore the feasibility of alternatives such as insurance or levy schemes.
Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts Publisher: The Stationery Office ISBN: 9780215020154 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 36
Book Description
The Scheme is one of the Government's policy measures designed to help meet its commitments under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to secure significant reductions in UK greenhouse gas emissions, in order to address the causes of global warming. Under the Scheme, companies are issued with allowances equal to their target emissions for the year, and at the end of the year must hold enough allowances to cover its actual emissions. A company can choose to reduce its actual emissions below its target (enabling it to sell excess allowances to other companies, or to save them for use in future years), to meet its target, or to buy extra allowances to cover any emissions in excess of its target amount. Following on from a National Audit Office report on this topic (HCP 517, session 2003-04; ISBN 0102927804) published in April 2004, the Committee's report examines the risk management procedures associated with the Scheme, the way baselines for greenhouse emissions were set, the effectiveness of the auction and the market, and the wider benefits to the UK economy.
Author: International Monetary Fund Publisher: International Monetary Fund ISBN: 1451814577 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 52
Book Description
The Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) on Georgia review macroeconomic, structural, and social policies in support of growth and poverty reduction, as well as associated external financing needs and major sources of financing. The sustainability of high economic growth is a positive tendency in the economy of Georgia. The social and economic hardship in the country and a less favorable entrepreneurial environment forces people to search for a living outside Georgia. The main priority of the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) is to conduct the monetary and exchange rate policy oriented on price stability.
Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Author: Great Britain. National 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. National Audit Office
Author: Great Britain: House of Commons
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
Author: International Monetary Fund