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
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

Author: Great Britain. Treasury

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2007-10-11

Total Pages: 120

ISBN-13: 9780101721622

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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
The Supervision of Community Orders in England and Wales

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2008-11-04

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13: 9780215524294

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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
Preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13: 9780215522160

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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
Spending reduction in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2011-09-30

Total Pages: 68

ISBN-13: 9780215561619

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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
Reducing Passenger Rail Delays by Better Management of Incidents

Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13: 9780215524973

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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?
Protecting Consumers?

Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13: 9780215524928

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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
Reducing the Risk of Violent Crime

Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13: 9780215523938

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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
Compensating Victims of Violent Crime

Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 56

ISBN-13: 9780215525031

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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
Departmental business planning

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2011-05-24

Total Pages: 68

ISBN-13: 9780215559753

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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
Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2011-09-23

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13: 9780215561572

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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.