Book Description
Government response to HC 681-I, session 2010-11 (ISBN 9780215557131). Dated June 2011
Author : Great Britain: Ministry of Justice
Publisher : The Stationery Office
Page : 44 pages
File Size : 36,3 MB
Release : 2011-06-21
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780101811125
Government response to HC 681-I, session 2010-11 (ISBN 9780215557131). Dated June 2011
Author : Great Britain: Ministry of Justice
Publisher : The Stationery Office
Page : 48 pages
File Size : 16,98 MB
Release : 2012-10-19
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780101843324
Dated October 2012. Response to HC 97-I (ISBN 9780215047557)
Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee
Publisher : The Stationery Office
Page : 102 pages
File Size : 29,56 MB
Release : 2011-03-31
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780215558930
Twenty-third report of Session 2010-11 : Documents considered by the Committee on 23 March 2011, report, together with formal Minutes
Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Justice Committee
Publisher : The Stationery Office
Page : 146 pages
File Size : 35,76 MB
Release : 2011-03-30
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780215558923
Additional written evidence is contained in Volume III, available on the Committee's website at www.parliament.uk/justicecttee
Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
Page : 76 pages
File Size : 37,80 MB
Release : 2011-04-27
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9780215559258
This report examines the value for money risks and implications of the Health and Social Care Bill. The Bill proposes a new model for the NHS focusing on patient outcomes. The proposals are intended to transform the NHS in England into a highly devolved, market-based model in which local commissioners and providers of health services are freed from central control, with an increased say for local authorities, patients and the public. Whilst the reforms could complement the imperative of achieving £20 billion efficiency gains by 2014/15, the reorganisation presents an additional challenge for the NHS. The health reforms are still at an early stage and key questions have yet to be addressed. It is vital that the Department creates robust accountability structures so that Parliament and the public can properly follow the taxpayers' pound and hold those responsible to account. The Committee is concerned that the Department has not yet developed a high quality risk management protocol for either the commissioning or providing bodies. The Department acknowledges that some health trusts and some GP practices have some way to go to achieve foundation trust status or become commissioning consortia. The Department must have effective systems in place to deal with failure so that whatever happens, the interests of both patients and taxpayers are protected. This report provides an overview of aspects of the reforms where Parliament requires clarification and draws out a number of risks associated with the transition to the new model that need to be managed.
Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
Page : 52 pages
File Size : 10,20 MB
Release : 2011-04-05
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780215559029
This Public Accounts Committee report addresses an issue at the core of the relationship between Parliament and government - accountability for public spending. The Committee is interested in the implications for accountability of two recent developments: the governance reforms which include Ministers chairing departmental boards and greater non-executive involvement in those boards; and the reform and localism proposals which envisage a significant devolution of responsibility for service delivery to a wide range of new bodies, in some cases independent of both central and local government. The reform and localism proposals raised fundamental points about the current model of accountability which the report explores. In practice government has long chosen to discharge accountability through the senior civil servant in each department, the Accounting Officer. Government vests in each Accounting Officer a direct and personal accountability to Parliament for his or her department's stewardship of public funds. While significant sums are spent locally, local taxes account for just 5% of revenue raised and so the overwhelming majority of public spending in the UK is routed through departments and is the responsibility of the departmental Accounting Officer. Parliament vests responsibility in the Public Accounts Committee to hold Accounting Officers accountable on its behalf. Sir Bob Kerslake has been appointed to review how the policy objectives of the reform and localism agenda might be reconciled with the current accountability model based on the Accounting Officer. The Committee sets out its fundamental elements for an effective accountability model.
Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Justice Committee
Publisher : The Stationery Office
Page : 72 pages
File Size : 12,34 MB
Release : 2011-11-23
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780215038791
The Government has proposed that the Youth Justice Board (YJB) should be abolished, and its inclusion in the Public Bodies Bill is currently the subject of 'ping pong' between the two Houses of Parliament. The YJB is responsible for: advising the Justice Secretary on the operation of the youth justice system; monitoring the performance of that system; purchasing places for, and placing, children and young people remanded or sentenced to custody; disseminating effective practice; making grants to local authorities and others; and commissioning research and publishing information. The Government wants to transfer YJB's functions to a Youth Justice Division of the Ministry of Justice, arguing that this will restore direct Ministerial accountability. The Committee point out that if that does happen, certain steps must be taken to ensure that the new Division: is not part of NOMS; benefits from the establishment of a genuinely and visibly independent Advisory Board; improves the dissemination of best practice; and exercises 'light touch' oversight of Youth Offending Teams.
Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
Page : 44 pages
File Size : 17,78 MB
Release : 2011-03-15
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9780215556851
Government spending on the NHS has increased by 70%, from £60 billion in 2000-01 to £102 billion in 2010-11., with around 40% spent on services provided by acute and foundation hospitals. There have been significant improvements in the performance of the NHS, particularly in those areas targeted by the Department of Health (the Department) such as hospital waiting times and outcomes for patients with cancer and coronary heart disease. But productivity has actually fallen over the last decade. The Office for National Statistics estimates that, since 2000, total NHS productivity fell by an average of 0.2% a year, and by an average of 1.4% a year in hospitals. The trend of falling productivity will need to be reversed if the NHS is to meet the Department's productivity challenge, to deliver up to £20 billion of efficiency savings a year, by 2014-15, without compromising services. The Payment by Results approach (a tariff for procedures) has driven some improvements, but it only covers 60% of hospital activity and there is substantial variation in hospital costs and activity. The tariff system could, though, prioritise price over quality. National pay contracts have not yet been used to manage staff performance effectively, and consultants' productivity has fallen at the same time as they have had significant pay rises. There are risks to the NHS being able to deliver up to £20 billion savings annually, for reinvestment in healthcare, alongside implementing a substantial agenda of reform. Productivity improvements will be key to delivering these savings.
Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
Page : 64 pages
File Size : 42,7 MB
Release : 2011-03-10
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780215556745
There are around 30 different types of benefits and pensions, and £148 billion was paid out to 20 million people in 2009-10. The Department for Work and Pensions estimates that £2.2 billion of overpayments and £1.3 billion of underpayments were made in 2009-10 as a result of administrative errors by its staff and mistakes by customers. Efforts to tackle error have had little success and levels of error have remained constant since 2007. A joint HM Revenue and Customs and Department for Work and Pensions fraud and error strategy announced in October 2010, along with additional funding of £425 million over four years, is an opportunity to inject a new impetus. Importantly, the Department has not addressed underpayments, despite the hardship that benefit underpayments can create for people in need. Interventions to reduce error must be targeted where they are most likely to get the greatest return. Progress on reducing error requires a better understanding of where and why errors arise, and a greater focus on preventing errors occurring in the first place. The Department is not making use of all available sources of information to identify the reasons why staff make mistakes, where guidance and training efforts should be directed, and to identify which customers are most likely to make mistakes on their benefit claims. Wider welfare reforms have the potential to reduce errors in the long term by simplifying benefits administration, but waiting for the implementation of the Universal Credit is not an option.
Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
Page : 40 pages
File Size : 18,16 MB
Release : 2011-03-17
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780215556882
The two directorates in HMRC responsible for civil investigation work brought in £8.5 billion of tax revenue in 2009-10, nearly 50 per cent more than the total three years before. At the same time they reduced spending by 10 per cent. This was good progress but the Department now has a much more stretching target. Government spending plans require HMRC to bring in an extra £18 billion of tax revenue over the next four years while reducing its costs. A crucial point is that the Department has lacked detailed information on how much different types of enforcement activity cost and what the returns are. It will need this information to meet the challenge of the new target. HMRC must improve its performance in key areas. Its targets for its investigation directorates have not been demanding enough, sometimes being set below the yield achieved in the previous year. Only a quarter of civil investigations of fraud cases were completed within the 18-month target. The level of penalties being imposed in cases of fraud has been too low. And the systems for tracking whether tax debts are being collected are poor.