Neither the Treasury nor the Cabinet Office currently monitor how well payment-by-results schemes work, despite £15bn being spent through the contracts, the National Audit Office has said.
Auditors have concluded that North Dorset District Council acted unlawfully by increasing parking charges in 2012/13 in an attempt to raise revenue to fund general services.
Government plans to merge three public service ombudsmen into one organisation for the whole of the sector will provide better value for money, one of the watchdogs involved has said.
Westminster City Council has set a new record for approval of local authority accounts after they were signed-off on May 18 – one day quicker than traditional frontrunners Oldham.
Oldham Council has beat its own speed record for closing its accounts after approval was given to its 2014/15 report by the authority’s audit committee yesterday.
The public sector is spending far more than private firms on outsourced services, despite a very patchy history of delivery. What can be done to promote better outcomes, particularly in value for...
Recent reports of ineffective local government scrutiny reflect a hard if disappointing reality. But it’s important that councils invest in an enhanced scrutiny function – it will pay for...
The shocking events in Rotherham bring to the fore some very serious issues for local authority and other public sector leaders. Getting the right answers demands that the right questions are asked.
The government is prepared to back the introduction of open-book accounting for public sector outsourcing contracts, a senior figure in the industry has said
Public service outsourcing firms today said they were willing to start using open-book accounting and allow their contracts to be scrutinised by the National Audit Office
The government has finally got around to publishing permanent secretaries' 2013-14 performance objectives. Unfortunately, instead of improving Whitehall accountability, they just add to the...
Ministers have called on business leaders to serve as departmental non-executive directors and help make Whitehall more efficient. But more could be done to ensure that the right people are recruited...
