The government’s reliance on national figures of English schools’ finances hides “cruel divides” that leave some children with poor education and lower life chances, a group of MPs has warned.
The government “simply has no idea” whether its £1.9bn Covid-19 youth employment scheme has been successful, Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has said.
Proposed amendments to the CIPFA Prudential Code seeking to strengthen restrictions on borrowing for commercial purposes have been dubbed 'relatively clear' by a senior civil servant.
HMRC is expected to recoup less than half of the forecast £5.8bn lost through fraud and error on Covid-19 support schemes, according to the department's top civil servant.
The Department for Work and Pensions has been slammed by MPs for a lack of control over fraud and overpayments of Universal Credit, which soared to record levels last year.
MPs have slammed the Ministry of Defence for “repeatedly wasting taxpayers’ money” by failing to improve its procurement system, which the UK depends on for national security.
The Ministry of Defence is years away from competent management of its assets, with a poor quality estate harming the wellbeing of service personnel, MPs have said.
The level of scrutiny and financial management placed on the government’s £37bn Test and Trace programme was “disappointing”, according to a senior Treasury official.
Poor quality assessments by departmental accounting officers have reduced the value for money of government spending during the Covid-19 pandemic, a Public Accounts Committee report has found.
Whitehall's oversight of local government audit has become “increasingly complacent” and the proposed solution involves treating public audit as “an afterthought”, MPs have said.
Government departments lack urgency in their efforts to measure fraud and error relating to Covid-19 spending, according to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.
The Department of Health and Social Care is ‘complacent’ about the risks of financial failure in local care provision, according to Parliament's Public Accounts Committee.
The government's narrow focus on spending on public sector pensions runs the risk of missing much bigger financial impacts caused by young employees failing to enrol in the schemes, MPs have warned.
The lack of government transparency around councils in financial distress makes scrutiny impossible and leaves authorities and service users vulnerable in the wake of Covid-19, MPs have said.
A government programme hoped to address long-term problems facing the UK economy is too focused on how much it spends, rather than the results it achieves, MPs have said.
Former prime minister David Cameron “quite persistently” lobbied Treasury officials to allow now-defunct Greensill Capital to access government Covid-19 support, according to the department's top...
The Covid-19 pandemic has sparked record collaboration between the NHS, social care providers and local government, a senior civil servant said this week.
The government needs to improve its support to local authorities to ensure that private finance initiative infrastructure returns to the public sector in a useable condition.
Councils’ ability to handle Covid-19 test and trace responsibilities have been hampered by a lack of clarity on funding levels, according to the Public Accounts Committee.
Local authorities lack the expertise to manage the wind-down of private finance initiative deals as contracts begin to come to an end, a civil servant warned this week.
Government plans to procure personal protective equipment before Covid-19 were inadequate, leading to hundreds of millions of pounds being wasted on PPE not fit for purpose, according to a group of...
