Confidentiality Clauses And Special Severance Payments

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Confidentiality clauses and special severance payments

Author : Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher : Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780102983753
Total Pages : 60 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (837 download)

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Book Synopsis Confidentiality clauses and special severance payments by : Great Britain: National Audit Office

Download or read book Confidentiality clauses and special severance payments written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-06-21 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a lack of transparency, consistency and accountability in the use of compromise agreements in the public sector and little is being done to change this situation. Public sector workers are sometimes offered a financial payment in return for terminating their employment contract and agreeing to keep the facts surrounding the payment confidential. Contracts are often terminated through the use of a compromise agreement and the associated payments are referred to as special severance payments. This report highlights the lack of central or coordinated controls over the use of compromise agreements. The NAO was not able to gauge accurately the prevalence of such agreements or the associated severance payments, due to decentralised decision-making, limited recording and the inclusion of confidentiality clauses which mean that they are not openly discussed. No individual body has shown leadership to address these issues. Compromise agreements can be used for legitimate reasons and it is normal that some information be kept confidential which can benefit both parties. But the practice of including a clause to ensure the employer gives the employee a good reference could help poorly performing staff members gain employment elsewhere in the public sector. Neither the Cabinet Office nor the Treasury provide formal guidance to departments or keep records of the use of compromise agreements across government or the content of confidentiality clauses. Treasury has issued guidance on the associated severance payments. Despite the NAO's statutory access rights, it received only 60 per cent of the compromise agreements requested from departments.

Older Workers Benefit Protection Act

Author : United States
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 6 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (121 download)

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Book Synopsis Older Workers Benefit Protection Act by : United States

Download or read book Older Workers Benefit Protection Act written by United States and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 6 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

House of Commons - Health Committee: After Francis: Making A Difference - HC 657

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Health Committee
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215062345
Total Pages : 188 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (623 download)

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Book Synopsis House of Commons - Health Committee: After Francis: Making A Difference - HC 657 by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Health Committee

Download or read book House of Commons - Health Committee: After Francis: Making A Difference - HC 657 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Health Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-09-18 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The NHS needs to be an organization in which an open dialogue about care quality is part of the natural culture of the organization, not a duty which only arises in cases of service failure. Robert Francis made 290 recommendations in his report, but in truth they boil down to just one - that the culture of 'doing the system's business' is pervasive in parts of the NHS and has to change. Many who raise their concerns in the NHS at present risk serious consequences for their employment and professional status. But disciplinary procedures, professional conduct hearings and employment tribunals are not the proper place for honestly-held concerns about patient safety and care quality to be aired constructively. The NHS standard contract imposes a duty of candour on all NHS providers. This is an essential principle, but it is not adequately understood or applied. It should mean that all providers create a culture which is routinely open both with their patients and their commissioners. The same principle should apply to commissioners so that they are routinely open and accountable to local communities. The Health Committee recommended this approach in 2011 and repeats that now. It should be a prime role of the CQC to encourage the development of this culture within care providers, and of NHS England to develop the same culture within commissioners. The Health Committee will in future work closely with the Professional Standards Authority to develop the accountability process for professional regulators in healthcare

Positive Free Speech

Author : Andrew T Kenyon
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1509908307
Total Pages : 400 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (99 download)

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Book Synopsis Positive Free Speech by : Andrew T Kenyon

Download or read book Positive Free Speech written by Andrew T Kenyon and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-05-28 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Freedom of expression is generally analysed as a bare liberty against restraint by state action. Underpinning rationales for freedom of speech very often imply, however, that the concept also has important positive aspects, and that to be truly 'democratic' the modern polity requires more than negative freedom. In contemporary conditions, this understanding of free speech raises matters such as media diversity or pluralism, the concept of voice and access to the public sphere, access to information, and the need to rethink the audience in relation to public speech. Whether securing positive free speech is a matter of politics or of law, a task for legislatures or for courts, is an open question. On one level, any programme of inculcating positive dimensions of free speech might be understood as inherently polycentric and hence political in character. Yet, a number of jurisdictions evince enhanced legal recognition for the principle. The aim of this collection of papers is to interrogate the rationales of positive free speech, to consider the political and juridical methods by which it has or may be more fully reflected in the modern state, and to consider the range of practical contexts in which its valorisation has or would have significant implications. The contributors are drawn from an array of European and international jurisdictions. They include academic lawyers and communications researchers

National Audit Office: Investigation by the Comptroller and Auditor General - Confidentiality Clauses and Special Severance payments - Follow Up - HC 684

Download National Audit Office: Investigation by the Comptroller and Auditor General - Confidentiality Clauses and Special Severance payments - Follow Up - HC 684 PDF Online Free

Author : Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780102986167
Total Pages : 22 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (861 download)

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Book Synopsis National Audit Office: Investigation by the Comptroller and Auditor General - Confidentiality Clauses and Special Severance payments - Follow Up - HC 684 by : Great Britain: National Audit Office

Download or read book National Audit Office: Investigation by the Comptroller and Auditor General - Confidentiality Clauses and Special Severance payments - Follow Up - HC 684 written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-10-08 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 3 July 2013, the Committee of Public Accounts took evidence on the use of confidentiality clauses and special severance payments across government. The Committee decided to hold a further hearing to allow time for the Treasury to develop proposals to improve government's approach to the use of compromise agreements within the public sector, and the National Audit Office to complete further work on the use of confidentiality clauses and severance payments in the culture, media and sport sector, defence sector and the health sector. This report presents the results of testing overall, including items that remained outstanding after the NAO's original report. Specific highlight particularly the need for: better guidance on the use of confidentiality clauses and special severance payments; and improved transparency and oversight to identify and address patterns of behaviour. The Treasury had approved some severance payments, where business cases refer to failure or inappropriate behaviour. Severance terms, however, were approved because legal advice set out that the individual would be likely to win an award in an employment tribunal and settlements would probably be cheaper and quicker. This may be valid for individual cases, but it may not be true for the wider public sector. Examples were also found where severance payments were agreed in response to failure to comply with internal policies and procedures. In three cases in the defence sector, managers had not followed the internal policy in relation to the employment of staff. As a result, severance payments were approved to avoid claims for compensation

HC 593 - Whistleblowing

Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 0215075706
Total Pages : 28 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (15 download)

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Book Synopsis HC 593 - Whistleblowing by : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book HC 593 - Whistleblowing written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whistleblowing is an important source of intelligence to help government identify wrongdoing and risks to public service delivery. But many concerns go unreported, and the intelligence that does exist is not routinely collected and shared. It is essential that employees have trust in the system for handling whistleblowers, and confidence that they will be taken seriously, protected and supported by their organisations if they blow the whistle. A positive approach to whistleblowing should exist wherever the taxpayer's pound is spent, in private and non-statutory bodies as well as public authorities. Far too often whistleblowers have been shockingly treated, and whistleblowers who have come forward have had to show remarkable bravery. Departments' own attempts at changing whistleblowing policy and processes for the better have not been successful in modifying a bullying culture, or in combating unacceptable behaviour, such as harassment of whistleblowers, within their organisations. The lack of cross-government leadership on whistleblowing has resulted in an inconsistent approach across departments. Departments must ensure that whistleblowers are protected, supported and have their welfare monitored. There should be timely reporting back to whistleblowers on how their concerns have been addressed. Compromise agreements should not be used to buy silence from whistleblowers and instead should be subject to approval by the Cabinet Office. All government employees should be provided with a route map that shows how to report issues internally and externally. Private and third sector contractors to the public sector must also be obliged to have strong and effective whistleblowing policies in place.

Model Rules of Professional Conduct

Author : American Bar Association. House of Delegates
Publisher : American Bar Association
ISBN 13 : 9781590318737
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (187 download)

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Book Synopsis Model Rules of Professional Conduct by : American Bar Association. House of Delegates

Download or read book Model Rules of Professional Conduct written by American Bar Association. House of Delegates and published by American Bar Association. This book was released on 2007 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

HC 941 - Establishing Free Schools

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 0215071921
Total Pages : 64 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (15 download)

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Book Synopsis HC 941 - Establishing Free Schools by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book HC 941 - Establishing Free Schools written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-05-09 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent high-profile failures demonstrate that the Department for Education and the Education Funding Agency's oversight arrangements for free schools are not yet working effectively. The Department and Agency have set up an approach to oversight which emphasises schools' autonomy, but standards of financial management and governance in some free schools are clearly not up to scratch. The Agency relies on high levels of compliance by schools, yet fewer than half of free schools submitted their required financial returns for 2011-12 to the Agency on time. Whistleblowers played a major role in uncovering recent scandals when problems should have been identified through the Agency's monitoring processes. There is also concern that applications for new free schools are not emerging from areas of greatest forecast need for more and better school places. The Department needs to set out how, and by when, it will encourage applications from areas with a high or severe forecast need for extra schools places, working with local authorities where appropriate. The Department should also be more open about the reasons for making decisions. Capital costs of the free school programme are escalating. The most recent round of approved free schools had a greater proportion of more expensive types, such as secondaries, special and alternative provision, located in more expensive regions such as London, the South East and South West. If this mix of approved free schools continues, there is a risk of costs exceeding available funding.

Pastor, Church & Law

Author : Richard R. Hammar
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780882435800
Total Pages : 456 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (358 download)

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Book Synopsis Pastor, Church & Law by : Richard R. Hammar

Download or read book Pastor, Church & Law written by Richard R. Hammar and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

COMPASS: Provision of Asylum Accommodation - HC 1000

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 0215071689
Total Pages : 24 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (15 download)

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Book Synopsis COMPASS: Provision of Asylum Accommodation - HC 1000 by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book COMPASS: Provision of Asylum Accommodation - HC 1000 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-04-24 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At any one time the Home Office (the Department) provides accommodation for around 23,000 destitute asylum seekers awaiting the outcome of their application to remain in the UK. The cost of providing this accommodation in 2011-12 was £150 million. In March 2012 the Department decided to introduce a new delivery model involving fewer and bigger housing providers than under previous contracts. There are now six regional contracts (known collectively as COMPASS), delivered by three prime contractors (G4S, Serco and Clearel, each of which has two contracts): these replaced 22 separate contracts with 13 different suppliers from across the private and voluntary sectors and local authorities. Savings of £140 million over seven years are forecast. The decision to rely on fewer, larger contractors was risky and has so far led to delays in providing suitable accommodation. The Department expected this to result in economies of scale. However, it is inconsistent with the Government's wider approach of encouraging more small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) to supply services to government. The transition to the new contracts was poorly managed: the three month mobilisation period for the contracts was very challenging. The Department has incurred additional costs and so is less likely to achieve the expected savings. The standard of the accommodation provided has often been unacceptably poor for a very fragile group of individuals and families and the companies failed to improve quality in a timely manner.

Safeguarding Adults and the Law, Third Edition

Author : Michael Mandelstam
Publisher : Jessica Kingsley Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1784504998
Total Pages : 642 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (845 download)

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Book Synopsis Safeguarding Adults and the Law, Third Edition by : Michael Mandelstam

Download or read book Safeguarding Adults and the Law, Third Edition written by Michael Mandelstam and published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. This book was released on 2019-02-21 with total page 642 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Safeguarding Adults and the Law, now in its third edition, sets this complex area of work within an extensive legal framework and provides many useful pointers for practitioners and students. It is now in an A-Z format, enabling quick reference to a wide range of civil and criminal law, and to legal case law. The book covers safeguarding duties under the Care Act 2014 and in particular the making of enquiries by local authorities, safeguarding adults boards, Department of Health guidance, human rights, regulation of health and social care providers, barring of carers from working with vulnerable adults, criminal records certificates, mental capacity, the High Court's inherent jurisdiction, undue influence, assault, battery, wilful neglect, ill treatment, self-neglect, manslaughter, murder, theft, fraud, sexual offences, modern slavery, domestic violence legislation, data protection and the sharing of information. The book focuses on how these areas of law, each with its own set of rules, apply to the practice of safeguarding adults. It contains numerous legal case summaries to bring the law to life. Fully updated, it reflects significant changes to civil and criminal law over the last five years. A critical introduction analyses serious challenges and issues inherent in the current culture of health and social care, and the implications for adult safeguarding. This book will be an essential resource for all those working in social care, health care and the police, as well as the many other agencies involved in safeguarding.

Confidentiality clauses and special severance payments

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215066299
Total Pages : 77 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (662 download)

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Book Synopsis Confidentiality clauses and special severance payments by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book Confidentiality clauses and special severance payments written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-01-24 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines the use of compromise agreements and confidentiality clauses in the public sector. It is not uncommon for public and private sector bodies to use compromise (or settlement) agreements to terminate an employment contract and there is usually an associated special severance payment. In the three years to March 2013, the Treasury approved 1,053 special severance payments totalling £28.4 million. But the true number and value of payments across the public sector is unknown and likely to be higher as the Treasury does not approve payments by, for example, local government, the police, the BBC, and private sector providers of public services. There has been a worrying lack of proper accountability and oversight around the use of compromise agreements and special severance payments by the public sector. Confidentiality clauses have been used in compromise agreements to cover up failure. Public sector employers have discretion over whether to include confidentiality clauses-whereby the employee agrees to keep the facts surrounding their termination confidential. The Cabinet Office is now preparing guidance for the civil service on the appropriate use of compromise agreements and confidentiality clauses. It plans to introduce improved monitoring processes and is committed to publishing annually a consolidated report on the number and value of special severance payments made by the civil service. The Treasury has now committed to changing the civil service financial reporting requirements to improve transparency around special severance payments, and it plans to 'encourage' wider public sector bodies to comply with the revised requirements.

HC 1141 - The Work of the Committee of Public Accounts 2010-15

Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 0215085779
Total Pages : 41 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (15 download)

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Book Synopsis HC 1141 - The Work of the Committee of Public Accounts 2010-15 by : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book HC 1141 - The Work of the Committee of Public Accounts 2010-15 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2015 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report summarises the key areas of the Committee's work over the past five years. It draws out the areas where progress has been made and where their successors might wish to press in future. The Committee has assiduously followed the taxpayer's pound wherever it was spent. Since 2010 they held 276 evidence sessions and published 244 unanimous reports to hold government to account for its performance. 88% of their recommendations were accepted by departments. In many cases they successfully secured substantial changes, for example with the once secret tax avoidance industry. They secured consensus from government and from industry that private providers of public services do have a duty of care to the taxpayer, and in pushing the protection of whistleblowers further up the agenda of all government departments. By drawing attention to mistakes in the Department for Transport's procurement of the West Coast Mainline, more recent procurements for Crossrail, Thameslink and Intercity Express have all benefited from more expert advice and a more appropriate level of challenge from senior staff. After discovery in 2012-13 that 63% of calls to government call centres were to higher rate telephone numbers, the Government accepted our recommendation that telephone lines serving vulnerable and low income groups never be charged above the geographic rate and that 03 numbers should be available for all government telephone lines. They also secured a commitment to close large mental health hospitals.

HC 1110 - Promoting Electronic Growth Locally

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 021507274X
Total Pages : 36 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (15 download)

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Book Synopsis HC 1110 - Promoting Electronic Growth Locally by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book HC 1110 - Promoting Electronic Growth Locally written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-05-16 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the large sums available for promoting economic growth locally, little money has actually reached businesses. Of the £3.9 billion that has been allocated in total to these initiatives, only nearly £400 million had made it to local projects by the end of 2012-13. Under the Regional Growth Fund, the largest of the schemes, the Departments will need to spend £1.4 billion this year, compared to the £1.2 billion spent over the previous three years. Some £1 billion of the remaining £3.5 billion allocated to initiatives is currently parked with intermediary bodies such as local authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships and banks - and the rest with the Departments. The Departments should introduce binding milestones for distributing funds and move quickly to claw back money not being spent - or spent disproportionately on administration - and redistribute it to better performers. Progress in creating jobs is falling well short of the Departments' initial expectations. The Departments' estimate of the cost per job created has also risen from £30,400 in Round One to £52,300 in Round Four - a 72% increase. The Departments also agreed that there is a risk of double-counting, with the same jobs scored more than once to different initiatives. The local growth initiatives have not been managed as a coordinated programme with a common strategy, objectives or plan. The recent creation by the Departments of a single growth directorate and a programme board is welcomed. Concern remains however that the Departments are not yet using the new oversight arrangements effectively.

HC 1114 - Probation: Landscape Review

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 0215072790
Total Pages : 24 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (15 download)

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Book Synopsis HC 1114 - Probation: Landscape Review by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book HC 1114 - Probation: Landscape Review written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-05-20 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ministry of Justice is implementing wholesale changes to how rehabilitation services for offenders are delivered in England and Wales on a highly ambitious timescale. It intends to introduce new private and voluntary providers, bring in a payment by results system, create a new National Probation Service and extend the service to short-term prisoners in a very short time period. This is very challenging and this report sets out a number of risks that need to be managed. The probation service in England and Wales supervised 225,000 offenders in our communities during 2012-13, at a cost of £853 million. The service is currently delivered by 35 Probation Trusts which are independent Non-Departmental Public Bodies, reporting directly to the National Offender Management Service. As part of the Ministry's Transforming Rehabilitation reforms, the Trusts will cease to operate from 31 May 2014 and will be abolished shortly afterwards, to be replaced by a National Probation Service and 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies. The scale, complexity and pace of the reforms give rise to risks around value for money which need to be carefully managed. The Committee welcomes the Accounting Officer's assurances that the Ministry will not proceed with the arrangements unless it is safe to do so. The Ministry expects the new National Probation Service and the 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies to begin operating from 1 June 2014 with only a limited opportunity for parallel running of the new arrangements during April and May 2014. The movement of staff, records and implementation of the arrangements required to make the new structures operate are ongoing. Initially the Community Rehabilitation Companies will be in public ownership pending a share sale, expected in time to launch a payment by results mechanism in 2015.

HC 1063 - Education Funding Agency And Department For Education 2012-13 Financial Statements

Author :
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 0215072871
Total Pages : 24 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (15 download)

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Book Synopsis HC 1063 - Education Funding Agency And Department For Education 2012-13 Financial Statements by :

Download or read book HC 1063 - Education Funding Agency And Department For Education 2012-13 Financial Statements written by and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Public Accounts Committee report examines the Education Funding Agency and Department for Education 2012-13 financial statements. Since it was set up in April 2012, the Education Funding Agency (the Agency) has succeeded in getting money to education providers on time. In 2012-13, the Agency distributed £51 billion of capital and revenue funding for 10 million learners to local authorities, academies, academy trusts, further education institutions, sixth-form colleges and other types of education providers. Between 2012-13 and 2015-16, the Agency expects that the number of all education providers it funds will increase by around 50% to almost 12,000, of which nearly 7,000 will be academies. At the same time, the Agency plans to reduce its administration costs by 15%, a huge challenge. It should improve efficiency, transparency and accountability in the education sector, especially in respect of the growing number of academies, but lacks the systems and data it needs. The Agency has not yet achieved an acceptable level of compliance with its reporting requirements and the Committee finds it is too reactive and does not spot risks or intervene in schools quickly enough. Not enough is known about conflicts of interest in academies and the risk they pose to the proper use of public money, not The Agency has no way of knowing whether academy chief executives and trustees are 'fit-and-proper persons', and there are flaws in the methodology used to consolidate the accounts of academies, as well as data quality issues, which undermine accountability.

NHS Waiting Times for Elective Care in England - HC 1002

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 0215071719
Total Pages : 24 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (15 download)

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Book Synopsis NHS Waiting Times for Elective Care in England - HC 1002 by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book NHS Waiting Times for Elective Care in England - HC 1002 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-04-29 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NHS patients have the right to receive elective pre-planned consultant-led care within 18 weeks of being referred for treatment. In 2012-13, there were 19.1 million referrals to hospitals in England, with hospital-related costs of around £16 billion. The standards are that 90% of patients admitted to hospital, and 95% of other patients, should have started treatment within 18 weeks of being referred. In April 2013, NHS England introduced zero tolerance of any patient waiting more than 52 weeks. The Department of Health cannot be sure that the waiting time data NHS England publishes, based on information from NHS trust, is accurate. Trusts are struggling with a hotchpotch of IT and paper based systems that are not easily pulled together, which makes it difficult for them to track and collate the patient information needed to manage and record patients' waiting time. The National Audit Office (NAO) found that waiting times for nearly a third of cases it reviewed at seven trusts were not supported by documented evidence, and that a further 26% were simply wrong. Multiple organisations have a quality assurance role. However the external audit provided in the past by the Audit Commission has yet to be replaced and the Department acknowledged the need to do so, with regular spot checks being undertaken to ensure accuracy. But responsibilities have not been clearly defined.