Company failure can present the public sector with extremely high levels of risk. Simon Reason of the National Audit Office explains some work the watchdog has done preparing a report setting...
Existing council spending pressures and the lack of long-term funding certainty could put the government’s 10-year reform programme at risk, the National Audit Office has said.
Construction delays and overspends on existing developments mean the government will miss its election target to build 40 hospitals by 2030, the National Audit Office has warned.
The failure to pay benefit claimants the correct level of support was a contributing factor in the National Audit Office giving a qualified opinion on the Department for Work and Pensions’ accounts.
The government’s growing debt burden and high interest costs are a key risk to public finances and must be managed carefully, the National Audit Office has said.
The huge backlog of unaudited local government accounts has ramifications across government, including for entire departments and the NHS, the head of the NAO has warned.
Unscrupulous landlords are profiting from expensive and poor-quality housing for vulnerable people because fragmented regulations and a lack of official data have allowed them to get away with it, a...
Reported fraud nearly quadrupling in the wake of Covid-19, and the fact that the government looks unlikely to recover most of the money, could lead to fraud and corruption becoming more accepted, the...
Delivering the Euston terminus of HS2 will cost almost double its budget despite changes to the scheme aimed at reducing costs, the National Audit Office has said.
Just 1% of fraudulent or incorrect Covid-19 business grant payments have been recovered by councils, because there are no incentives for them to do so, the National Audit Office has said.
The government will struggle to achieve its net zero targets if it continues without a clear plan to decarbonise the power sector – the “backbone” of its ambition – according to the national spending...
The Home Office has no idea what other departments are spending on fraud, despite plans for cross-government collaboration, the National Audit Office has warned.
Billions lost to fraud and error in the furlough scheme and other Covid-19 support programmes mean the government faces calls to strengthen its estimates and recovery efforts.
The lack of good data on the location and occupancy of government properties is hindering Whitehall’s ability to manage its portfolio, the National Audit Office has said.
The government launched its post-Brexit investment bank more than a year faster than similar lending facilities, meaning it was unable to state how it will meet objectives, according to the National...
The government failed to collect data to determine whether more than £400m spent on Covid-19 travel measures delivered value for money, according to the National Audit Office.
The government has spent almost £3bn on personal protective equipment not fit for purpose, and is currently disputing another £2.7bn of payments with suppliers, according to the National Audit...
The government is facing questions over whether leaked emails suggest civil servants were told to alter data relating to personal protective equipment bought amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Public bodies owe an estimated £260m in tax, after they were given insufficient time to adopt changes to employment regulations, according to the National Audit Office.
The government lacks evidence on whether billions of pounds of funding over the last decade supporting local growth has had the intended impacts, according to the National Audit Office.
