Treasury Minute On The Twenty Seventh And The Twenty Ninth To The Thirty Seventh Reports From The Committee Of Public Accounts

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Treasury minutes on the twenty seventh to the thirty fourth, the thirty sixth to the fortieth, and the forty third to the forty fifth reports from the Committee of Public Accounts 2006-2007

Download Treasury minutes on the twenty seventh to the thirty fourth, the thirty sixth to the fortieth, and the forty third to the forty fifth reports from the Committee of Public Accounts 2006-2007 PDF Online Free

Author : Great Britain. Treasury
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780101721622
Total Pages : 120 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (216 download)

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Book Synopsis Treasury minutes on the twenty seventh to the thirty fourth, the thirty sixth to the fortieth, and the forty third to the forty fifth reports from the Committee of Public Accounts 2006-2007 by : Great Britain. Treasury

Download or read book Treasury minutes on the twenty seventh to the thirty fourth, the thirty sixth to the fortieth, and the forty third to the forty fifth reports from the Committee of Public Accounts 2006-2007 written by Great Britain. Treasury and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-10-11 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Committee of Public Accounts treasury minutes are on the following reports: HCP 113, 06/07, 27th report (ISBN 9780215034311); HCP 179, 06/07, 28th report (ISBN 9780215034373); HCP 142, 06/07, 29th report (ISBN 9780215034304); HCP 189, 06/07, 30th report (ISBN 9780215034489); HCP 309, 06/07, 31st report (ISBN 9780215034496); HCP 91, 06/07, 32nd report (ISBN 9780215034571); HCP 275, 06/07 33rd report (ISBN 9780215034786); HCP 43, 06/07, 34th report (ISBN 9780215034830); HCP 729, 06/07, 36th report (ISBN 9780215034823); HCP 812, 06/07, 37th report (ISBN 9780215034878); HCP 261, 06/07, 38th report (ISBN 9780215034991); HCP 377, 06/07, 39th report (ISBN 9780215034922); HCP 368, 06/07, 40th report (ISBN 9780215035066); HCP 892, 06/07, 43rd report (ISBN 9780215035172); HCP 246, 06/07, 44th report (ISBN 9780215035271); HCP 250, 06/07, 45th report (ISBN 9780215035387)

The Supervision of Community Orders in England and Wales

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215524294
Total Pages : 40 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (242 download)

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Book Synopsis The Supervision of Community Orders in England and Wales by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book The Supervision of Community Orders in England and Wales written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-11-04 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since their introduction under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, community orders have offered courts the ability to impose a range of 12 possible 'requirements', including accredited programmes (such as anger management courses or alcohol and drug rehabilitation), unpaid work in the community and supervision by the National Probation Service. There is little information available nationally on the effectiveness of community orders. On the key measure of reconviction, figures from the Ministry of Justice showed that for those sentenced to community orders, their actual reconviction rate was significantly lower than those sentenced to custodial sentences for similar offences. There is, though, no basic information such as national data on whether offenders have completed their community orders, nor on why offenders have failed to complete them. The National Probation Service has set national standards but these are applied inconsistently. The Ministry's current method of funding Probation Areas is unsatisfactory and slow to respond to changes in demand from the courts and it is felt that there is a need for a more flexible system. On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Committee examined the Ministry of Justice on increasing effectiveness of community orders; building the confidence of both the court and the community in community orders; improving the funding formula; and tightening adherence to the requirements of orders.

Preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215522160
Total Pages : 40 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (221 download)

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Book Synopsis Preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book Preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Within Central Government, preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are being led by the Government Olympic Executive, which is part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The Excutive is responsible for co-ordinating the activities of a wide range of organisations, including the Olympic Delivery Authority, whichis responsible for the construction of venues and associated infrastructure. Whilst individual organisations have their own programme management arrangements, the Governmetn Olympic Executive has not hyet developed a plan for the programme as a whole, or finalised arrangements for identifying and managing risks across the programme. On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (HC 490, session 2007-08, ISBN 97801102954197) the Committee took evidence from DCMS and the Olympic Delivery Authority onthe progress made in preparing for the London 2012 Olympc and Paralympic Games

Spending reduction in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215561619
Total Pages : 68 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (616 download)

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Book Synopsis Spending reduction in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book Spending reduction in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-09-30 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Around half of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's budget is spent in foreign currencies. In 2008, the Treasury removed the protection it had previously provided to the Department against exchange rate fluctuations. The FCO did not have the expertise or experience to effectively manage the risk of a fall in exchange rates, and that the Treasury imposed poor value for money conditions on forward purchasing foreign currency. As a result of a decline in the value of sterling, in September 2009 the FCO faced an overspend of £91 million on its 2009-10 budget (£72 million centrally and £18.8 million overseas), out of its total budget of £1.6 billion. It made drastic cuts to reduce this overspend. The FCO did well to reduce spending so quickly, which enabled it to live within its budget. However, many of the spending cuts made were short term in nature, and involved simply delaying or stopping some activities, rather than making lasting efficiency improvements. Not enough was done to monitor and measure the impact of the cuts and there is a risk that such short term cuts can lead to increased spending in the future. The FCO needs to achieve sustainable reductions in running costs of £100 million over the next four years, and sees the overseas estate as a potential source of these efficiencies and income. But in the past, high charges have had the unintended consequence of discouraging other government departments from sharing premises.

Reducing Passenger Rail Delays by Better Management of Incidents

Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215524973
Total Pages : 40 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (249 download)

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Book Synopsis Reducing Passenger Rail Delays by Better Management of Incidents by : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book Reducing Passenger Rail Delays by Better Management of Incidents written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the 53rd report from the Committee of Public Accounts (HCP 655, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780215524973), and examines how the rail industry, led by the Department for Transport and Network Rail, manages incidents on the rail network, and how passengers are treated when delays occur. The Committee has set out a number of conclusions and recommendations, including: that Network Rail receives only half of its funding from the taxpayer but as a private sector company it is not directly accountable to Parliament, the Committee states the Department should strengthen the governance and accountability arrangements; that the Office of Rail Regulation should review and revise targets where appropriate to take account of changing conditions and challenges; the Committee states that the Department needs to play a more active role in bringing together the rail industry, emergency services and other stakeholders to improve incident management; and further that the Office of Rail Regulation should make sure mechanisms are in place so that the emergency services know who to contact during rail incidents; that passengers are not receiving the information they need during delays and are not always told how to claim compensation for delays. During the 2006-07 period over 1.2 billion passenger journeys were made in Great Britain on services that arrived on time almost nine times out of ten. The Department provided £3.4 billion to Network Rail and £1.7 billion to the train operating companies, whilst passengers paid some £5.1 billion in fares, with the NAO estimating that delays cost passengers £1 billion in terms of lost time. This report follows on from a National Audit Office report (HCP 308, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780102953053).

Protecting Consumers?

Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215524928
Total Pages : 44 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (249 download)

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Book Synopsis Protecting Consumers? by : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book Protecting Consumers? written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the 52nd report from the Committee of Public Accounts (HC 571, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780215524928), and it follows an NAO report (HC 342, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780102953114). It looks at protection of consumers through removal of price controls by regulators, examines the benefits of this decision to different groups of consumers and the challenges of regulating these markets. The regulators Ofcom, Ofgem and Postcomm have statutory objectives requiring them to protect consumers through the introduction of competition, where appropriate. Between 2002 and 2006, each removed retail price controls from the following: fixed line telephone provision; gas and electricity supply; special delivery postal services for business account users. Once price controls are removed, regulators rely on consumers to switch suppliers, so in theory rewarding companies who offer good service and competitive prices. For this to work, consumers need good information about the different suppliers, must be able to switch supplier easily, have confidence in the market to believe changing supplier will make a difference and, when necessary, obtain redress if the company behaves anti-competitively. Regulators need to ensure the competition is working effectively and that there is protection for vulnerable consumers, especially at a time of large increases in energy prices and telecoms prices above those of most countries.

Reducing the Risk of Violent Crime

Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215523938
Total Pages : 60 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (239 download)

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Book Synopsis Reducing the Risk of Violent Crime by : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book Reducing the Risk of Violent Crime written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the 45th report from the Committee of Public Accounts (HCP 546, session 2007-08). It follows an NAO report on the same topic published as HCP 241, session 2007-08 (ISBN 9780102952964). In general, violent crime has fallen in recent years, but mores serious violent offences, such as homicide and wounding, have not fallen as swiftly. The number of recorded crimes involving a firearm doubled between 1998-99 and 2005-06, as did the number of 15-17 year olds convicted of carrying a knife in public. The Committee has set out a number of conclusions and recommendations, including: that only since 2007 has it been mandatory for the police to record the presence of a knife at the scene of a crime; that the majority of victims of violent crime treated in A & E units did not report their injuries to the police; that the Committee believes that the Home Office and the Department of Health should jointly establish a national system for the automatic sharing of depersonalised violent crime data between hospitals, police and the Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnerships; that the Department has made little progress since 2005 in managing to distribute funding for tackling violent crime to the Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnerships; that the Home Office has a limited understanding of the nature of gang membership and activity and how such activity has changed over time; that only one third of the Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnerships had developed written strategies to tackle violent crime and that they also lacked the analytical capacity needed to assess the data they collect on violent crime in their locality.

Compensating Victims of Violent Crime

Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215525031
Total Pages : 56 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (25 download)

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Book Synopsis Compensating Victims of Violent Crime by : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book Compensating Victims of Violent Crime written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme makes financial awards to individuals who have been injured as a result of violent crime. The Scheme is administered by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, a non-departmental public body of the Ministry of Justice. Appeal against the Authority's decisions are heard by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel which is part of the Tribunals Service, an executive agency of the Ministry. Between 2000 and 2006, performance in dealing with claims deteriorate due to poor management within the Authority, combined with a lack of oversight by the sponsoring department. In the seven years since the subject was previously examined only 5 of 16 recommendation have been met in full. On the basis of a report by Comptroller and Auditor General, the Committee examined the Ministry, Authority & Tribunals Service on the reasons for the deterioration in performance

Departmental business planning

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215559753
Total Pages : 68 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (597 download)

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Book Synopsis Departmental business planning by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book Departmental business planning written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-05-24 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Spending Review 2010 set out the Government's policy and financial priorities, and a spending framework requiring significant cuts to most departmental budgets. Subsequently, the Government published 17 Departmental Business Plans which focus on the priorities set out in the Coalition Agreement and are designed to provide a basis for accountability for delivery of those actions. The plans set out a policy intention to shift power from central government to local communities and locally based public, private and voluntary bodies. The Government wants to empower local people and embed local accountability by making more data more freely available so that people can assess value for money and services providers can be accountable. However, the planning to support the implementation of the reforms and new models of service delivery is at different stages in different departments with much of the detail under development or not yet in the public domain. The Business Plans also contain key indicators of input and impact which the Government intends should provide high level accountability to Parliament and others for overall departmental performance. The Plans also underpin the allocation of resources within departments and the subsequent accountability for the use of those resources. The Committee examined the business planning process as a basis for managing reform, for reducing costs, and for departmental strategic management and accountability. This report identifies a number of important areas that departments should consider that will aid them to: clarify accountability; support cost-effective implementation of Government policies; and secure effective performance management.

Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215561572
Total Pages : 44 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (615 download)

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Book Synopsis Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-09-23 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines the first year of implementation of the MPs' expenses scheme, and proposals for improving service levels in the future. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) was established in the wake of the 2009 crisis in public confidence on MPs' expenses. IPSA established itself quickly and introduced a functioning expenses system on time in May 2010. Since then, IPSA has also been paying the salaries of MPs and their staff. Expenses have been paid within the rules, and MPs have been reimbursed accurately. In 2010-11, IPSA paid out over £118 million in total, comprising £98.6 million in salaries for MPs and their staff, and £19.5 million in MPs' expenses. IPSA assesses that 99.7% of all claims made by MPs are within the rules it has set. But its expenses scheme is expensive to administer and is not yet demonstrating value for money. Overall, 38% of claims submitted in 2010-11 were for less than the average cost IPSA incurs to process them. The Committee is also concerned about the lack of clear, easily accessible guidance for MPs and their staff, and the cumbersome nature of some processes, such as payment card reconciliation. There are two remaining issues which IPSA needs to address. Public confidence could be improved further if IPSA made clearer public statements about approved claims being wholly within the rules. And salaries should be separated from true expenses.

Transforming NHS ambulance services

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215561329
Total Pages : 52 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (613 download)

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Book Synopsis Transforming NHS ambulance services by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book Transforming NHS ambulance services written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-09-16 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2009-10 the eleven regional ambulance services in England handled 7.9 million emergency calls and spent 1.5 billion pounds on urgent and emergency services. They are expected to make 4 percent efficiency savings year on year in a time when public demand for services continues to rise. Performance was measured against three response time targets until 1 April 2011, but the incentive to meet these targets has led to some inefficiency, such as when more than one team is sent to incidents. The Committee welcomes the decision to introduce a wider suite of health quality indicators to create a broader performance regime in which response times remain one indicator. There is wide variation in the cost of responding to an incident across the services, and there is a need for more consistent performance data in order to benchmark and share best practice. Under the NHS reforms there is vagueness around who will be responsible for what: who commissions ambulance services; who is responsible for improving efficiency in ambulance services or who will intervene if a service has financial trouble or seriously under performs? There is need for greater clarity on the roles and responsibilities of the Department, commissioners and ambulance trusts with appropriate structures for accountability. Other parts of the Health service affect ambulance services and a more integrated emergency care system is needed to ensure that ambulances are utilised in the most efficient manner. Levels of collaboration between ambulance, fire and police services could be strengthened.

The failure of the FiReControl project

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215561541
Total Pages : 56 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (615 download)

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Book Synopsis The failure of the FiReControl project by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book The failure of the FiReControl project written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-09-20 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: FiReControl was an ambitious project with the objectives of improving national resilience, efficiency and technology by replacing the control room functions of 46 local Fire and Rescue Services in England with a network of nine purpose-built regional control centres using a national computer system. The project was launched in 2004, but following a series of delays and difficulties, was terminated in December 2010 with none of the original objectives achieved and a minimum of £469 million being wasted. The Department attempted, without sufficient mandatory powers, to impose a single, national approach on locally accountable Fire and Rescue Services who were reluctant to change the way they operated. There were no basic project approval checks and balances - decisions were taken before a business case, project plan or procurement strategy had been developed and tested. The result was hugely unrealistic forecast costs and savings, naève over-optimism on the deliverability of the IT solution and under-appreciation or mitigation of the risks. Fundamentals of project management were absent: the centres were constructed and completed whilst there was considerable delay in even awarding the IT contract, let alone developing the essential IT infrastructure. There was a high turnover of senior managers although none have been held accountable for the failure. The IT contract went to a company with no direct experience of supplying the emergency services. £84.8 million is now earmarked to meet the project's original objectives, to improve resilience, efficiency and interoperability within the Fire and Rescue Service but there is no certainty this will provide value for money.

Formula funding of local public services

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215038685
Total Pages : 48 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (386 download)

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Book Synopsis Formula funding of local public services by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book Formula funding of local public services written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-11-16 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines existing approaches to formula funding across government, and the principles that should be carried forward to new arrangements. Government departments distributed £152 billion, one-fifth of all government spending, to local public bodies in 2011-12 based on the three grants considered: Primary Care Trust Allocations; Dedicated Schools Grant; and the Department for Communities and Local Government's Formula Grant. These distribute funding to local public bodies in a range of sectors, including health, education, local government, police and fire and rescue services. The formula funding systems are complex, difficult to understand, and have led to inequitable allocations. For Dedicated Schools Grant, based mainly on historical spending patterns, per pupil funding for schools with similar characteristics can vary by as much as 40%. Under Formula Grant, nearly 20% of authorities received allocations which are more than 10% different from calculated needs. The priorities accorded to different elements of the formulae are judgements which have a direct impact on the distribution of funds. In some cases the basis for the judgement is guided by authoritative, published independent advice. In other cases, the basis for judgement lacks transparency, and external advice lacks status and influence. Only 4% of respondents to DCLG's consultation supported the current version of the model used to calculate Formula Grant. Some of the data used by departments in calculating relative needs is inaccurate and out of date. Current reviews of formula funding provide opportunities to address the weaknesses identified in this report.

Shared Services in the Department for Transport and Its Agencies

Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Public Accounts Committee
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215525482
Total Pages : 40 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (254 download)

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Book Synopsis Shared Services in the Department for Transport and Its Agencies by : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Public Accounts Committee

Download or read book Shared Services in the Department for Transport and Its Agencies written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Public Accounts Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The NAO report on this topic published as HCP 481, session 2007-08 (ISBN 9780102954159)

Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons

Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 270 pages
Book Rating : 4.R/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons by : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons

Download or read book Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons and published by . This book was released on 1872 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Department for Transport

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215560407
Total Pages : 36 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (64 download)

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Book Synopsis Department for Transport by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book Department for Transport written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-07-09 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The InterCity East Coast Mainline is a hugely significant rail service, carrying around 19 million passengers a year between London, the North East and Scotland. In 2005, a contract was awarded to Great North Eastern Railway, but financial difficulties at its holding company meant that the franchise failed 18 months later. In 2007, a new contract was awarded to National Express to run the franchise on the basis that it would pay the Department £1.4 billion over seven and a half years. At the time, the East Coast franchise was one of three operated by National Express. As a result of the economic downturn, expected passenger revenues did not materialise and National Express announced in July 2009 that it wanted to opt out of the contract and would not provide the necessary financial support to the East Coast franchise. National Express paid just £120 million to walk away from a contract worth £1.4 billion to the taxpayer. The Department turned down the offer of an extra £30 million for a 'no fault' exit in order to send a warning to other holding companies. But the Department completely undermined its position by making clear that the termination would not be held against National Express in future bids. In doing so, the Department allowed National Express to get away scot free and with its reputation intact. By its actions in this case, the Department has potentially incentivised other holding companies with loss-making franchises to terminate, rather than renegotiate, their contracts. In future the Department must make clear to such companies that failure to deliver on their obligations will have serious lasting consequences.

Reorganising central government bodies

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215043764
Total Pages : 44 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (437 download)

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Book Synopsis Reorganising central government bodies by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book Reorganising central government bodies written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-04-24 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Under the Public Bodies Reform Programme the Government is reducing the number of its arm's length bodies from 904 to between 632 and 642 by the end of the current Spending Review period and will have a substantial and lasting impact. The Programme is intended to improve accountability for functions currently carried out at arm's length from Ministers. The Cabinet Office says it is on track to make £2.6 billion of administrative savings by 2015. However there are substantial reservations about the robustness of this claim. Key concerns are that: there is a risk departments are claiming savings which are actually cuts to services, when they should be including only genuine savings arising from administrative reorganisations; estimates of transition costs such as redundancy and pension costs are incomplete; the savings estimate does not fully take account of the ongoing costs to other parts of government of taking on functions being transferred from abolished bodies and some departments have wrongly included wider savings from bodies being retained, rather than just administrative savings from bodies being abolished or substantially reformed. The Cabinet Office has accepted that its savings estimate needs to be reassessed and has undertaken to 'rebase' it. Focus now needs to be on managing the Programme effectively. Departments have decided on the form of individual reorganisations themselves without clear direction from the centre, leading in some cases to inconsistent treatment of bodies with similar functions. Furthermore, departments may not be getting the best value for money from the sale or transfer of assets of bodies being abolished