Twenty-fourth report of session 2010-11

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Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215559135
Total Pages : 80 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (591 download)

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Book Synopsis Twenty-fourth report of session 2010-11 by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee

Download or read book Twenty-fourth report of session 2010-11 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-04-07 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty-fourth report of Session 2010-11 : Documents considered by the Committee on 30 March 2011, including the following recommendations for debate, the CAP towards 2020; financial services; trafficking in human beings; European contract law, report, tog

Forty-fourth report of session 2010-12

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Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215562173
Total Pages : 68 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (621 download)

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Book Synopsis Forty-fourth report of session 2010-12 by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee

Download or read book Forty-fourth report of session 2010-12 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-11-02 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forty-fourth report of Session 2010-12 : Documents considered by the Committee on 26 October 2011, report, together with formal Minutes

Sessional Returns

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Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215048387
Total Pages : 442 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (483 download)

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Book Synopsis Sessional Returns by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons

Download or read book Sessional Returns written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-09-14 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On cover and title page: House, committees of the whole House, general committees and select committees

Forty-fourth Report of Session 2013-14 - HC 83-xxix

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Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 0215070755
Total Pages : 98 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (15 download)

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Book Synopsis Forty-fourth Report of Session 2013-14 - HC 83-xxix by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee

Download or read book Forty-fourth Report of Session 2013-14 - HC 83-xxix written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-04-08 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Caught Red Handed: Why We can't Count on Police Recorded Crime Statistics - HC 760

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Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 0215068084
Total Pages : 64 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (15 download)

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Book Synopsis Caught Red Handed: Why We can't Count on Police Recorded Crime Statistics - HC 760 by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee

Download or read book Caught Red Handed: Why We can't Count on Police Recorded Crime Statistics - HC 760 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-02-13 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the next ten years, development aid in the form of grants should be replaced for lower middle income countries. DFID should continue to channel some of its finance through multilaterals, making greater use of their specialist skills and expertise rather than replicating these within its own bilateral programmes. DFID should also establish a financial instrument team, prepare a development finance strategy and publish a Development Finance White Paper during 2014. This strategy should include consideration of whether to establish a UK development bank. The overwhelming drive in UK aid should continue to focus on lifting people out of poverty and meeting post-2015 development objectives. The UK should continue to fund the development and delivery of key services to the very poorest people in low income countries through a system of grants. We should also continue to channel 0.7 % of GNI into development cooperation. But, to support structural transformation in lower middle income countries a significant proportion of future UK development finance should also be delivered via a system of concessional loans and other financial instruments

Too Soon to Scrap the Census - HC 1090

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Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 0215071670
Total Pages : 36 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (15 download)

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Book Synopsis Too Soon to Scrap the Census - HC 1090 by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Public Administration Select Committee

Download or read book Too Soon to Scrap the Census - HC 1090 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Public Administration Select Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-04-17 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the start of this Parliament, the Minister for the Cabinet Office indicated the ten-yearly census should be axed and the 2011 census should be the last. But in this report the Public Administration Select Committee urges the government not to scrap the 2021 census. Good figures on the people in the country are of fundamental importance to the statistical system, policy makers and society more widely, and the ten-yearly census gives detailed information on small areas. This report follows the National Statistician's announcement in March 2014 that she recommends that Government keep the Census in 2021, but that it should be conducted largely online, and that the Government should make much greater use of the data which it already holds in order to improve the accuracy of population estimates. The Committee supports the recommendation from the National Statistician, but urges the Office for National Statistics to do much more to make the best use of the data which the Government already collects, for example through the Department for Work and Pensions, HM Revenue and Customs and the Department of Health. The Committee says that the Office for National Statistics' work on the future of the Census has, to date, been limited, and recommends that the Office for National Statistics now sets out a much more ambitious vision for the use of this data to provide rich and valuable population statistics.

Special Advisors in the Thick of it

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Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215049452
Total Pages : 104 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (494 download)

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Book Synopsis Special Advisors in the Thick of it by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Public Administration Select Committee

Download or read book Special Advisors in the Thick of it written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Public Administration Select Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-10-14 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Public Administration Select Committee says special advisers (SpAds) should be 'men and women of standing and experience' with a legitimate and valuable function to play in government, but they need better training and support to prevent future problems and misunderstandings about their role and conduct. Ministers must recognise that they have responsibility, not just accountability, for the conduct of their special advisers, and actively ensure that they are fully aware of what their advisers are doing in their name. The Committee says that it remains concerned that this responsibility has 'proved to be more theoretical than actual' and says it cannot recall any minister ever resigning over the conduct of a special adviser, despite some astonishing cases. PASC says that the special advisers' role protects the impartiality of the Civil Service, by performing tasks which it would be inappropriate for permanent, impartial officials to perform, and helping to ensure that the Government's policy objectives are delivered, but that ministers must be able to justify that the tasks they undertake are in the public interest. Despite concerns raised by PASC's predecessor Committee more than ten years ago, the training and support for new special advisers remains inadequate. The Committee makes a number of recommendations including that the PM's Adviser on Ministers' Interests should be empowered to instigate his own investigations of potential breaches of the Ministerial Code, so that the Prime Minister is not able to protect his ministers from appropriate investigation of the conduct of their advisers, and that the PM's Adviser should himself be independently appointed and subject to a pre-appointment hearing

Public Trust in Government Statistics

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Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215054463
Total Pages : 94 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (544 download)

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Book Synopsis Public Trust in Government Statistics by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Public Administration Select Committee

Download or read book Public Trust in Government Statistics written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Public Administration Select Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-02-25 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this report the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) concludes that, despite the positive steps implemented by the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (the Act), there remain issues and concerns about the way government statistics are produced and disseminated which remain a genuine risk to public confidence in the statistical system and must be addressed. The Act was intended to ensure that statistics are produced to the highest professional standards and that effective governance structures are in place to protect transparency and accountability and the Committee found the Act had helped to improve the operation of the statistical system. However, the Act needs to have greater clarity and transparency in the way it operates and in the functioning of the UK Statistics Authority (the Statistics Authority). Those who regulate the quality of National Statistics are in the same organisation as those officials who produce data: the two groups should have a clear separation in practice, but this is hard to demonstrate when they work in the same building and share support services. It is also not appropriate that ministers should have lengthy prior access to certain statistics but other interested parties do not. The Statistics Authority does not seem to have sufficient control over the quality and integrity of the different data sets and statistical products produced by departments and their agencies. Planning and improving data access both within Government and for users outside Government should be given greater attention by the Statistics Authority, as well as by Government departments.

HM Revenue & Customs accounts 2010-11

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Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215040077
Total Pages : 170 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (4 download)

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Book Synopsis HM Revenue & Customs accounts 2010-11 by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book HM Revenue & Customs accounts 2010-11 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-12-20 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Commons Public Accounts Committee publishes its 61st Report of the Session which, on the basis of evidence from the Cabinet Office and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), examined tax disputes. At 31 March 2011 HM Revenue & Customs was seeking to resolve tax issues valued at over £25 billion with large companies, some of which included disputes over outstanding tax. In this report, the Committee expresses concern about how the Department handled some cases involving large settlements and that there needs to be proper separation between the negotiation of tax settlements and the authorization of such settlements. The Committee also states that HMRC made matters worse by trying to avoid scrutiny of these settlements, keeping confidential the details of specific settlements with large companies. This effects Parliament's ability to establish value for money, compounded further by imprecise, inconsistent and potentially misleading answers given by senior departmental officials, including the Permanent Secretary for Tax in particular over his evidence on his relationship with Goldman Sachs, in facilitating a settlement with the company over their tax dispute. HMRC governance processes in these matters were inconsistent and it has now appointed two new Commissioners with tax expertise, and plans to introduce a new assessor role to permit independent review of large settlements before they are finalised. The Committee further states that it saw little evidence of personal accountability within the Department, and that a perception has developed that large companies are treated more favourably, receiving preferential treatment compared to small businesses and individuals.

Free Speech after 9/11

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0191083410
Total Pages : 206 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Free Speech after 9/11 by : Katharine Gelber

Download or read book Free Speech after 9/11 written by Katharine Gelber and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-04-15 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although there has been a lot written about how counter-terrorism laws impact on human rights and civil liberties, most of this work has focussed on the most obvious or egregious kinds of human rights abrogation, such as extended detention, torture, and extraordinary rendition. Far less has been written about the complex ways in which Western governments have placed new and far-reaching limitations on freedom of speech in this context since 9/11. This book compares three liberal democracies - the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, in particular showing the commonalities and similarities in what has occurred in each country, and the changes in the appropriate parameters of freedom of speech in the counter-terrorism context since 9/11, achieved both in policy change and the justification for that change. In all three countries much speech has been criminalized in ways that were considered anachronistic, or inappropriate, in comparable policy areas prior to 9/11. This is particularly interesting because other works have suggested that the United States' unique protection of freedom of speech in the First Amendment has prevented speech being limited in that country in ways that have been pursued in others. This book shows that this kind of argument misses the detail of the policy change that has occurred, and privileges a textual reading over a more comprehensive policy-based understanding of the changes that have occurred. The author argues that we are now living a new-normal for freedom of speech, within which restrictions on speech that once would have been considered aberrant, overreaching, and impermissible are now considered ordinary, necessary, and justified as long as they occur in the counter-terrorism context. This change is persistent, and it has far reaching implications for the future of this foundational freedom.

House of Commons - Public Administration Select Committee (PASC): Latest Proposals for Ministerial Involvement in Permanent Security Appointments: PASC's Recommendations - HC 1041

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Author :
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215068880
Total Pages : 20 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (688 download)

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Book Synopsis House of Commons - Public Administration Select Committee (PASC): Latest Proposals for Ministerial Involvement in Permanent Security Appointments: PASC's Recommendations - HC 1041 by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Public Administration Select Committee

Download or read book House of Commons - Public Administration Select Committee (PASC): Latest Proposals for Ministerial Involvement in Permanent Security Appointments: PASC's Recommendations - HC 1041 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Public Administration Select Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-02-28 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At present the Prime Minister can only veto a candidate selected on merit. But new proposals put forward by the Civil Service Commission would give the Prime Minister the power to choose between two candidates considered equally well qualified for the role. This report follows a long-running debate between the Civil Service Commission and the Government on the appointment of lead permanent secretaries - the most senior civil servant in a department. In January 2014 the Civil Service Commission put out to consultation two proposals on expanding ministerial influence on the recruitment process. PASC has concluded that the first option - to formalise the recruitment panel's powers to seek, and take into account, the view of the relevant minister during the appointment process - should be adopted. The Committee has warned that the adoption of the Commission's second option - allowing the Prime Minster or Secretary of State to effectively appoint a permanent secretary by choosing between two candidates 'of equivalent merit' risks the appearance that the choice will be made on grounds other than merit alone

Accountability for public money

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Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215559029
Total Pages : 52 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (59 download)

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Book Synopsis Accountability for public money by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book Accountability for public money written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-04-05 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Public Accounts Committee report addresses an issue at the core of the relationship between Parliament and government - accountability for public spending. The Committee is interested in the implications for accountability of two recent developments: the governance reforms which include Ministers chairing departmental boards and greater non-executive involvement in those boards; and the reform and localism proposals which envisage a significant devolution of responsibility for service delivery to a wide range of new bodies, in some cases independent of both central and local government. The reform and localism proposals raised fundamental points about the current model of accountability which the report explores. In practice government has long chosen to discharge accountability through the senior civil servant in each department, the Accounting Officer. Government vests in each Accounting Officer a direct and personal accountability to Parliament for his or her department's stewardship of public funds. While significant sums are spent locally, local taxes account for just 5% of revenue raised and so the overwhelming majority of public spending in the UK is routed through departments and is the responsibility of the departmental Accounting Officer. Parliament vests responsibility in the Public Accounts Committee to hold Accounting Officers accountable on its behalf. Sir Bob Kerslake has been appointed to review how the policy objectives of the reform and localism agenda might be reconciled with the current accountability model based on the Accounting Officer. The Committee sets out its fundamental elements for an effective accountability model.

Management of NHS hospital productivity

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Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215556851
Total Pages : 44 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (568 download)

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Book Synopsis Management of NHS hospital productivity by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book Management of NHS hospital productivity written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-03-15 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Government spending on the NHS has increased by 70%, from £60 billion in 2000-01 to £102 billion in 2010-11., with around 40% spent on services provided by acute and foundation hospitals. There have been significant improvements in the performance of the NHS, particularly in those areas targeted by the Department of Health (the Department) such as hospital waiting times and outcomes for patients with cancer and coronary heart disease. But productivity has actually fallen over the last decade. The Office for National Statistics estimates that, since 2000, total NHS productivity fell by an average of 0.2% a year, and by an average of 1.4% a year in hospitals. The trend of falling productivity will need to be reversed if the NHS is to meet the Department's productivity challenge, to deliver up to £20 billion of efficiency savings a year, by 2014-15, without compromising services. The Payment by Results approach (a tariff for procedures) has driven some improvements, but it only covers 60% of hospital activity and there is substantial variation in hospital costs and activity. The tariff system could, though, prioritise price over quality. National pay contracts have not yet been used to manage staff performance effectively, and consultants' productivity has fallen at the same time as they have had significant pay rises. There are risks to the NHS being able to deliver up to £20 billion savings annually, for reinvestment in healthcare, alongside implementing a substantial agenda of reform. Productivity improvements will be key to delivering these savings.

Reducing errors in the benefits system

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Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215556745
Total Pages : 64 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (567 download)

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Book Synopsis Reducing errors in the benefits system by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book Reducing errors in the benefits system written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-03-10 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are around 30 different types of benefits and pensions, and £148 billion was paid out to 20 million people in 2009-10. The Department for Work and Pensions estimates that £2.2 billion of overpayments and £1.3 billion of underpayments were made in 2009-10 as a result of administrative errors by its staff and mistakes by customers. Efforts to tackle error have had little success and levels of error have remained constant since 2007. A joint HM Revenue and Customs and Department for Work and Pensions fraud and error strategy announced in October 2010, along with additional funding of £425 million over four years, is an opportunity to inject a new impetus. Importantly, the Department has not addressed underpayments, despite the hardship that benefit underpayments can create for people in need. Interventions to reduce error must be targeted where they are most likely to get the greatest return. Progress on reducing error requires a better understanding of where and why errors arise, and a greater focus on preventing errors occurring in the first place. The Department is not making use of all available sources of information to identify the reasons why staff make mistakes, where guidance and training efforts should be directed, and to identify which customers are most likely to make mistakes on their benefit claims. Wider welfare reforms have the potential to reduce errors in the long term by simplifying benefits administration, but waiting for the implementation of the Universal Credit is not an option.

The BBC's management of digital media initiative

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Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215559081
Total Pages : 48 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (59 download)

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Book Synopsis The BBC's management of digital media initiative by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book The BBC's management of digital media initiative written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-04-07 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines the management of the contract with Siemens and the BBC's in-house development of the Digital Media Initiative Programme. The Programme is designed to transform the way in which BBC staff create, use and share video and audio material. It involves the development of new technology to allow staff to manage content efficiently on their desktops, in order to give greater accessibility of digital content for audiences on TV, online and radio. The BBC has made good progress in delivering the programme in-house since it terminated its contract with Siemens. It is now on course to deliver the complete technology by summer 2011. With hindsight, the BBC should not have let the contract for its Digital Media Initiative to Siemens without testing the contractor against other suppliers, especially as there was a high degree of innovation involved. The Programme is no longer expected to deliver the overall net financial benefit of £17.9 million originally anticipated. The BBC approved the Programme on the basis that it would cost £81.7 million and deliver benefits of £99.6 million, but now forecasts costs of £133.6 million and benefits of £95.4 million - a net cost of £38.2 million. The Committee welcomes the Trust's assurance that it would now take a more challenging approach when considering procurements but are concerned with the ease with which the BBC found over £50 million in savings to make up for the losses it suffered through late delivery of the project and its own increased delivery costs. This suggests the need for a more vigilant approach to value for money.

HM Revenue & Customs

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Author :
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215556882
Total Pages : 40 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (568 download)

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Book Synopsis HM Revenue & Customs by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book HM Revenue & Customs written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-03-17 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The two directorates in HMRC responsible for civil investigation work brought in £8.5 billion of tax revenue in 2009-10, nearly 50 per cent more than the total three years before. At the same time they reduced spending by 10 per cent. This was good progress but the Department now has a much more stretching target. Government spending plans require HMRC to bring in an extra £18 billion of tax revenue over the next four years while reducing its costs. A crucial point is that the Department has lacked detailed information on how much different types of enforcement activity cost and what the returns are. It will need this information to meet the challenge of the new target. HMRC must improve its performance in key areas. Its targets for its investigation directorates have not been demanding enough, sometimes being set below the yield achieved in the previous year. Only a quarter of civil investigations of fraud cases were completed within the 18-month target. The level of penalties being imposed in cases of fraud has been too low. And the systems for tracking whether tax debts are being collected are poor.

The use of information to manage the defence logistics supply chain

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Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215561183
Total Pages : 48 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (611 download)

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Book Synopsis The use of information to manage the defence logistics supply chain by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Download or read book The use of information to manage the defence logistics supply chain written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-08-19 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report assesses the Ministry of Defence's performance in managing the supply chain to front line troops. The MoD rightly puts a strong emphasis on ensuring troops get the supplies they need. Equally, providing an efficient supply chain would release resources for the front line. The Committee believes there should be greater emphasis on securing value for money and that there is room for it to find efficiencies in the supply chain without jeopardising operational effectiveness. Previous reports have identified persistent problems with late deliveries, unnecessary costs and missed targets. At present, the MoD does not have the information to identify where savings could be made. It does not know the full costs of its current activities or the cost of alternative supply options. The failure to collect basic data about where supplies are stored has directly contributed to the MoD accounts being qualified for three consecutive years. The MoD is now seeking to resolve these information problems through a major initiative known as the Future Logistics Information Services project, expected to be implemented by 2014. Until then, the Department will continue to store data in systems that are at critical risk of failure. It is vital that the MOD sustains its programme in order to secure value for money. Measures which could improve the efficiency of supply operations include putting more pressure on suppliers to deliver on time, keeping stocks at lower levels to reduce the risk of them deteriorating, and benchmarking performance against relevant comparators such as other armed forces.