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National Audit Office Report By The Comptroller And Auditor General Foreign And Commonwealth Office
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Book Synopsis PFI by : Great Britain. National Audit Office
Download or read book PFI written by Great Britain. National Audit Office and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The private finance initiative is helping to improve the quality of public sector construction work, according to the National Audit Office. Better price certainty and on-time delivery of good quality assets have been obtained by using PFI contracts. Only 22 per cent of public building projects had exceeded the cost initially expected by the public sector. Under previous contracts up to 73 per cent had overshot the original estimate. Only eight per cent of projects were delayed by more than two months. Public sector project managers were generally satisfied with the design, construction and performance of their PFI buildings. However, NAO did not try to judge whether PFI was the best procurement method for all public sector construction projects.
Book Synopsis National Audit Office - Foreign & Commonwealth Office and UK Trade & Investment: Supporting UK Exporters - HC 732 by : Great Britain: National Audit Office
Download or read book National Audit Office - Foreign & Commonwealth Office and UK Trade & Investment: Supporting UK Exporters - HC 732 written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-10-16 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 2012 Budget, announced the 'ambition' to double the value of exports by 2020 to £1 trillion a year. However current performance has been flat over the last two years and, to meet the Government's ambition, exports will have to grow by 10 per cent year on year. Many factors which affect export performance are outside the control of the FCO and UKTI, such as exchange rates and political and economic changes overseas. While the UK outperforms Germany, France and Italy in the Gulf, it has not traditionally performed as well in many other emerging markets, such as Russia, Brazil, Turkey and China. Success here is essential if the Government is to meet its target. There is a joint UKTI-FCO Board to oversee coordination of their work overseas but currently there is no further joint accountability for planning, monitoring and delivery against their goal. Their initial responses to the government's objectives have not been sufficiently coordinated. UKTI is now increasingly looking to measure actual business outcomes rather than volume of activity. Among the NAO's recommendations is that the FCO improve how it measures and monitors the impact of its activities supporting exports so that it can demonstrate that its spending of some £420 million a year yields tangible results. UKTI is piloting the use of external business partners to provide some of its services, and needs to implement lessons from the evaluation of its pilot initiative to use external partners if it decides to roll it out
Book Synopsis National Audit Office (NAO) - Cabinet Office: Managing Government Suppliers - HC 811 by : Great Britain: National Audit Office
Download or read book National Audit Office (NAO) - Cabinet Office: Managing Government Suppliers - HC 811 written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-11-12 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this memorandum 'Managing government suppliers', the NAO welcomes the fact that the Cabinet Office is now asserting government's position with contractors in way that its scale as a customer merits. Specifically, this has enabled government to get greater value from contracting and has sent signals that government is willing to be tough on underperformance. However, the Cabinet Office still faces a number of challenges in developing a more mature approach. It is currently focused on short-term savings and has adopted a robust approach with departments and suppliers, which has enabled it to report significant savings from contract renegotiations. However, this approach will become harder over time, and risks missing out on achieving longer-term value for money through innovation and investment. There is a balance to be struck between tough negotiations and maintaining relationship with suppliers in the long term, if government is to maintain competition in public sector markets. The Cabinet Office is seeking to reform commercial practice across Government with the development of the Crown Commercial Service. There is a risk that the ambitions are not matched by the right resources, capability and information. It has gaps in commercial experience and expertise below senior levels, while its information on its 40 strategic suppliers is inconsistent and incomplete. A related report 'The role of major contractors in the delivery of public services' (HC 810, session 2013-14, ISBN 9780102987027) sets out some of the benefits that can be achieved through contracting but highlights issues that deserve greater public scrutiny.
Author :United States Government Accountability Office Publisher :Lulu.com ISBN 13 :0359536395 Total Pages :234 pages Book Rating :4.3/5 (595 download)
Book Synopsis Government Auditing Standards - 2018 Revision by : United States Government Accountability Office
Download or read book Government Auditing Standards - 2018 Revision written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2019-03-24 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Audits provide essential accountability and transparency over government programs. Given the current challenges facing governments and their programs, the oversight provided through auditing is more critical than ever. Government auditing provides the objective analysis and information needed to make the decisions necessary to help create a better future. The professional standards presented in this 2018 revision of Government Auditing Standards (known as the Yellow Book) provide a framework for performing high-quality audit work with competence, integrity, objectivity, and independence to provide accountability and to help improve government operations and services. These standards, commonly referred to as generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS), provide the foundation for government auditors to lead by example in the areas of independence, transparency, accountability, and quality through the audit process. This revision contains major changes from, and supersedes, the 2011 revision.
Author :Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts Publisher :The Stationery Office ISBN 13 :9780215514806 Total Pages :44 pages Book Rating :4.5/5 (148 download)
Book Synopsis Foreign and Commonwealth Office by : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
Download or read book 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 2008 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United Kingdom retains responsibility for 14 Overseas Territories, 11 of which are permanently populated and which choose to remain under British sovereignty rather than to become independent states. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is the lead Department for coordinating UK Government policy for the Territories. The Department for International Development (DFID) coordinates development assistance, focusing on the three Territories of Montserrat, St. Helena and Pitcairn. This report examines the oversight of offshore financial services in the Territories; the balance between UK and Territory funding and responsibilities; and governance and management of the Territories external relations. The FCO aims to strike a balance between maximising the autonomy given to Territories' democratically elected governments, and minimising risks to the UK. The UK has dealt with a wide variety of risks and liabilities in the past, including pension liabilities of an estimated £100 million in Gibraltar and emergency aid of over £250 million to Montserrat after a volcanic eruption on the island. Territories have seen improvements in disaster management, but this needs to accelerate as rising sea levels and global warming add to the existing risks from hurricanes and volcanoes. The FCO is attempting to increase capacity for oversight of Territories' financial services industries, but regulatory standards in most are low. Limited capacity also reduces the ability of Territories to investigate and prosecute money laundering. Standards of governance and financial reporting in the Territories are variable and can fall below standards acceptable in UK local government. Lax financial management can evade departmental controls to protect the UK from risk, although there is stronger fiscal oversight of Territories receiving development aid.
Book Synopsis Spending Review 2010 by : Great Britain. Treasury
Download or read book Spending Review 2010 written by Great Britain. Treasury and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2009-10, public expenditure rose to 48 per cent of GDP whilst income fell to 37 per cent, resulting in the largest deficit in Britain's peacetime history. This Spending Review sets out how the Coalition Government will carry out its deficit reduction plan. Particular focus has been given to reducing welfare costs and wasteful spending. This has enabled the Coalition Government to prioritise the NHS, schools, early years' provision and the capital investments designed to support long term economic growth. Departmental budgets other than health and overseas aid will be cut by an average of 19 per cent over four years. Key areas of Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) in addition to Departmental Expenditure Limits (DELs) for each government department and for the devolved administrations are covered. The Review sets out departmental spending plans for the four years until 2014-15 and further savings and reforms to welfare, environmental levies and public service pensions. The Review protects high value transport maintenance and investment, maintains the science budget, invests in apprenticeships and the low carbon economy and allows universities to increase fees from the 2012-13 academic year. Fundamental reforms will simplify the welfare system and make net savings of �7 billion a year. Social housing will be reformed and social care will receive an additional �2 billion by 2014-15. Public service reform underpins the Review: decentralisation of power; cutting burdens and regulations on front-line staff; improving transparency, efficiency and accountability of local services. Local government will have greater freedom but must work within reduced allocations. Public sector pensions will be reformed in line with Lord Hutton's recommendations. Central government administration costs will be cut by 34 per cent by 2014-15. Government departments will produce business plans later in 2010 detailing reform plans and priorities.
Book Synopsis Managing Public Money by : Great Britain. Treasury
Download or read book Managing Public Money written by Great Britain. Treasury and published by Stationery Office Books (TSO). This book was released on 2007 with total page 69 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dated October 2007. The publication is effective from October 2007, when it replaces "Government accounting". Annexes to this document may be viewed at www.hm-treasury.gov.uk
Book Synopsis The Role of the Comptroller and Auditor General by : Great Britain. Treasury
Download or read book The Role of the Comptroller and Auditor General written by Great Britain. Treasury and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Author :Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts Publisher :The Stationery Office ISBN 13 :9780215542717 Total Pages :52 pages Book Rating :4.5/5 (427 download)
Book Synopsis Financial Management in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
Download or read book Financial Management 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 2009 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Against a backdrop of historically weak financial management and significant under-spending, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has made considerable progress over the past three years to improve the accuracy, reliability and timeliness of financial information. Having recognised the need to take action, the Department set up its 'Five Star Finance' project which is due to completed in the summer of 2010. Of particular benefit has been the recruitment of a professionally qualified finance director and increasing the number of professionally qualified accountants within the finance function. An important factor has been the need for better information on the costs of individual embassies and this has been strengthened. Further action, though, is still required to implement a workable and effective system of costing activity in all locations to enable it to make informed decisions about its operational priorities. Given that over half of the Department's expenditure of some £2 billion is paid out in foreign currency the Department has suffered a significant reduction in purchasing power as a result of the weakening of the Sterling. The Department now forward purchases US dollars, euros and yen but with input from the Treasury it also needs to work with other Departments to identify the most effective way to manage exchange rate risk for the government as a whole. The Department confirmed that its aim is to maximise the benefits from each of its embassies in pursuit of British trade and foreign policy interests and that it has no plans to sell-off any of its prestigious buildings around the world
Book Synopsis The UK Cyber Security Strategy by : Great Britain: National Audit Office
Download or read book The UK Cyber Security Strategy written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-02-12 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The cost of cyber crime to the UK is currently estimated to be between £18 billion and £27 billion. Business, government and the public must therefore be constantly alert to the level of risk if they are to succeed in detecting and resisting the threat of cyber attack. The UK Cyber Security Strategy, published in November 2011, set out how the Government planned to deliver the National Cyber Security Programme through to 2015, committing £650 million of additional funding. Among progress reported so far, the Serious Organised Crime Agency repatriated more than 2.3 million items of compromised card payment details to the financial sector in the UK and internationally since 2011, preventing a potential economic loss of more than £500 million. In the past year, moreover, the public reported to Action Fraud over 46,000 reports of cyber crime, amounting to £292 million worth of attempted fraud. NAO identifies six key challenges faced by the Government in implanting its cyber security strategy in a rapidly changing environment. These are the need to influence industry to protect and promote itself and UK plc; to address the UK's current and future ICT and cyber security skills gap; to increase awareness so that people are not the weakest link; to tackle cyber crime and enforce the law; to get government to be more agile and joined-up; and to demonstrate value for money. The NAO recognizes, however, that there are some particular challenges in establishing the value for money
Book Synopsis Financial management in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by : Great Britain: National Audit Office
Download or read book Financial management in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009-06-03 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has made good progress in its financial management, aiming to establish itself as one of the best departments in Whitehall in this respect. It has shown strong leadership in raising the profile of good financial management across the Department. Up to 2007-08, however, the FCO has underspent consistently against its budget. The Department has introduced a financial management improvement programme "Five Star Finance", the aim of which is for the department to be a Whitehall leader in financial management. It currently rates itself at three and a half stars on a 1(low) to 5 (high) scale, a rating confirmed by NAO. The FCO operates in a challenging environment in terms of the global nature of its operations. The fluctuations of global currency markets pose particular difficulties for the Department. Until 2007-08, its budgets were protected by the Treasury from exchange rate fluctuations. When this protection was withdrawn, the FCO introduced alternative measures to manage its exposure, principally the forward purchase of major foreign currencies. It needs to ensure that its finance team has the right skills and experience to manage the financial risks it now faces. The FCO is taking action to avoid future underspends against its budget. In other respects, FCO's financial management has improved. The accuracy, reliability and timeliness of its financial reporting have all been enhanced. In 2007-08 it laid its accounts on 30 June, the earliest date it has ever achieved after the March year-end.
Author :Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts Publisher :The Stationery Office ISBN 13 :9780215553430 Total Pages :44 pages Book Rating :4.5/5 (534 download)
Book Synopsis Adapting the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Global Estate to the Modern World by : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
Download or read book Adapting the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Global Estate to the Modern World written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The FCO (the Department) has over 4,000 buildings across its global estate, in 279 different locations. The estate is a mix of properties including embassy, high commission and consular offices, ambassadorial residences, prestige and historical buildings and staff accommodation. The estate is valued at £1.6 billion and capital and revenue expenditure in 2008-09 totalled £269 million. The Committee welcomes the improvements the Department has made in managing its estate more effectively, including the recent appointment of an estates specialist as estates director and the development of a new estate strategy. The Department however has a poor understanding of its estate and the information it holds on its properties is basic, incomplete, out of date and inaccurate. In addition, the Department does not collect data, such as the cost and amount of space per person, recommended by the Office of Government Commerce for the effective management of government offices in the UK. The Department has unused space in its offices even in locations where other UK government organisations are based in separate premises. Other organisations are often deterred from co-locating with the Department because of the security measures necessary in embassies as well as the high charges they must pay to use the Department's buildings. The Department now needs a better managed estate with improved data to enhance understanding of the estate, and its new strategy to be implemented effectively at each location.
Book Synopsis Adapting the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's global estate to the modern world by : Great Britain: National Audit Office
Download or read book Adapting the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's global estate to the modern world written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-02-11 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office lacks a clear strategy and comprehensive data to manage its overseas estate effectively. It is taking positive steps to adapt its properties to new global challenges but has not achieved value for money in the management of its estate as a whole. Without a clear framework to assess the estate's performance, it is difficult to evaluate the Department's progress. The Department has recently appointed an estates specialist as Director of Estates and Security who is developing a new strategy which should help secure improved value for money in the future. There are several factors, such as changing political issues, security restrictions and exchange rate pressures, which add to the complexity of managing the global estate. But lack of adequate financial and management information about the estate hampers good decision making on efficient use of space and the identification of surplus assets for potential sale. The management of projects to improve the estate could be better: a third of the projects that the NAO analysed exceeded their initial approved budget by over 10 per cent and two-thirds were delivered late. The total cost overrun since 2002 is approximately £57 million, against a total spent on capital projects of £250 million. The FCO does not always use space in its posts efficiently. Over half of the posts that responded to the NAO's survey have unused office space or staff accommodation. The FCO could do more to promote the use of its overseas estate by other UK government organisations where feasible.
Book Synopsis Spending reduction in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by : Great Britain: National Audit Office
Download or read book Spending reduction in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-03-29 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The spending cuts made by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2009-10 were mainly in response to exchange rate pressures and provided an early experience of the challenges the Department will face in cutting its core expenditure by 10 per cent as a result of the 2010 Spending Review. These spending cuts were a short-term response to the immediate problem of a forecast budget shortfall of £72 million. They were designed to reduce in-year spending quickly, rather than achieving long-term efficiencies. In contrast, cuts to core expenditure as required by the spending review will demand a more strategic approach. There is evidence of the Department's seeking to protect its front-line activities and intending to make reductions in spending permanent. But it could not be sure that all the cuts were implemented as intended or had the least possible impact on its business. Most of the spending reduction resulted from doing less and the NAO also estimates that about 10 per cent of cuts were achieved through simple deferral: postponing activities such as non-essential maintenance to a later year. In addition, although the Department had assessed the risks of making spending cuts, it did not have measures in place to assess the impact of the cuts on the achievement of its objectives. In February 2010 the Department had started to develop contingency plans in case further cuts were required in 2010-11. However, it did not conduct a formal evaluation of its spending reduction activities in 2009-10 and missed a valuable opportunity to learn.
Book Synopsis Monitoring Performance in the Public Sector by : John Winston Mayne
Download or read book Monitoring Performance in the Public Sector written by John Winston Mayne and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A host of promising public sector reform efforts are underway throughout the world. In governments challenged by budget deficits and declining public trust, these reform efforts seek to improve policy decisions and public management. Along the way, program efficiency and effectiveness help rebuild public confidence in government. Whether through regular measurement of program inputs, activities, and outcomes, or through episodic one-shot studies, performance monitoring plays a central role in the most important current reform efforts. Monitoring Performance in the Public Sector, now available in paperback, is based on experiences derived from comparative analysis in different countries. It explains why there is interest in perfor!mance monitoring in a given setting, why it has failed or created uncertainties, and identifies criteria for improving its design and use.One of the challenges this book offers is the need to consider dimensions of performance beyond the traditional ones of economy, efficiency, and effectiveness. With an increasingly diverse, interdependent, and uncertain public sector environment, for some stakeholders meeting objectives fixed some time ago may not be as important as the capacity to adapt to current and future change. In this vein, the contributors address a number of themes: the criti!cal importance of organizational support for performance monitoring and making it consistent with the organizational culture, the need for active and effective leadership in defining criteria and implementing practical performance monitoring, the value of linking ongoing measurement with more than the traditional, strictly quantitative aspects of public sector performance.As we gain experience with performance monitoring and its uses, such systems should become more cost effective over time. This book will be of deep interest to public managers, government officials, economists, and organization theorists, and useful in courses on p
Book Synopsis Overseas Territories by : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Foreign Affairs Committee
Download or read book Overseas Territories written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the seventh report of the 2007-08 session from the Foreign Affairs Committee (HCP 147-I, ISBN 9780215521477) and focuses on the issue of Overseas Territories. Altogether 45 conclusions and recommendations are set out under the following headings, covering: constitutional relationships; governance; rule of law; human rights; environmental governance; contingent liabilities; sovereignty disputes. Specific recommendations include: that the Committee commends the Government's encouragement of Overseas Territories in reviewing their constitutions and setting out proposals for reform; that Gibraltar's presence on the UN list of non-self-governing territories is an anachronism; that territory governments should be given the opportunity to pass on their opinions of the candidates for Governor before appointments are made; that the FCO should ensure it takes Overseas Territories' interests into account in its relations with the EU; the Committee recommends that the FCO should strongly encourage all Overseas Territories to introduce freedom of information legislation; that the FCO must ensure that judicial decisions in Overseas Territories should not have any interference either from the Governor or the local government; that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender status should be made illegal in all Overseas Territories; the Committee believes the Government has been highly negligent in not carrying out a strategic assessment of Overseas Territories funding requirements for conservation and ecosystem managment; that Governors within Overseas Territories should use reserve powers to deal with irregularities, such as money laundering, in offshore financial services (for a related publication, see HCP 4, session 2007-08 NAO: Managing Risk in Overseas Territories). The Committee states that the Government has acted decisively in some Overseas Territories but in some other cases, has been too hands-off (eg. the corruption allegations on the Turks & Caicos Islands). Also that the choice of Governor for a Territory is crucial. Finally, the Committee deplores any retaliatory measures taken against indivduals who have assisted the Committee. For Volume II, Oral and Written Evidence, see (HCP 147-II, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780215521507).
Book Synopsis Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2007-08 by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee
Download or read book Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2007-08 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report is the Committee's annual review of how the FCO is managing its resources, examining the departmental annual report for 2007-08 (Cm. 7398, ISBN 9780101739825). Chapters cover: new strategic framework; performance measurement; global network; essential services; FCO Services; personnel issues; transparency and openness; financial management; public diplomacy and communication; the British Council; the BBC World Service. The Committee is concerned that the FCO is facing serious financial pressures in this financial year due to the Treasury's withdrawal of its support for the Overseas Pricing Mechanism (OPM) which used to protect departments from the weakening of sterling. There is a risk that the FCO may not be able to meet higher international subscriptions over the next two financial years, causing its performance against Public Service Agreement targets to suffer. The likely increase in the UN Regular Budget and other international subscriptions will push this figure even higher. The FCO should have to shoulder the financial burden from within its already tight budget to pay for subscriptions which also benefit other Government departments. The Committee recommends that additional nondiscretionary costs should properly be met by the Treasury.
