Download or read book Financial management in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009-06-03 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has made good progress in its financial management, aiming to establish itself as one of the best departments in Whitehall in this respect. It has shown strong leadership in raising the profile of good financial management across the Department. Up to 2007-08, however, the FCO has underspent consistently against its budget. The Department has introduced a financial management improvement programme "Five Star Finance", the aim of which is for the department to be a Whitehall leader in financial management. It currently rates itself at three and a half stars on a 1(low) to 5 (high) scale, a rating confirmed by NAO. The FCO operates in a challenging environment in terms of the global nature of its operations. The fluctuations of global currency markets pose particular difficulties for the Department. Until 2007-08, its budgets were protected by the Treasury from exchange rate fluctuations. When this protection was withdrawn, the FCO introduced alternative measures to manage its exposure, principally the forward purchase of major foreign currencies. It needs to ensure that its finance team has the right skills and experience to manage the financial risks it now faces. The FCO is taking action to avoid future underspends against its budget. In other respects, FCO's financial management has improved. The accuracy, reliability and timeliness of its financial reporting have all been enhanced. In 2007-08 it laid its accounts on 30 June, the earliest date it has ever achieved after the March year-end.
Download or read book Foreign and Commonwealth Office annual report 2006 07 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-11-19 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report is the Committee's annual review of how the FCO is managing its resources. This year a key area off interest has been the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review because the Committee think it is one of the tightest in Whitehall and it risks jeopardising some of the FCO's important work. Apart from this the other subjects covered are: measuring performance; operational efficiency; management and leadership; FCO services; diplomatic representation overseas; transparency and openness; public diplomacy; British council; BBC World Service.
Download or read book The Homeland Security Dilemma written by Frank P. Harvey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the paradox of the ‘security dilemma’ in International Relations, as applied to the post-9/11 context of homeland security. The book's central argument can be summed up by the following counterintuitive thesis: the more security you have, the more security you will need. It argues that enhancing security does not make terrorism more likely, but rather it raises public expectations and amplifies public outrage after subsequent failures. The book contests that this dilemma will continue to shape American, Canadian and British domestic and international security priorities for decades. In exploring the key policy implications resulting from this, the book highlights the difficulty in finding a solution to this paradox, as the most rational and logical policy options are part of the problem. This book will be of interest to students of Homeland Security, Security Studies, US politics, and IR in general.
Download or read book Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2007 08 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report is the Committee's annual review of how the FCO is managing its resources, examining the departmental annual report for 2007-08 (Cm. 7398, ISBN 9780101739825). Chapters cover: new strategic framework; performance measurement; global network; essential services; FCO Services; personnel issues; transparency and openness; financial management; public diplomacy and communication; the British Council; the BBC World Service. The Committee is concerned that the FCO is facing serious financial pressures in this financial year due to the Treasury's withdrawal of its support for the Overseas Pricing Mechanism (OPM) which used to protect departments from the weakening of sterling. There is a risk that the FCO may not be able to meet higher international subscriptions over the next two financial years, causing its performance against Public Service Agreement targets to suffer. The likely increase in the UN Regular Budget and other international subscriptions will push this figure even higher. The FCO should have to shoulder the financial burden from within its already tight budget to pay for subscriptions which also benefit other Government departments. The Committee recommends that additional nondiscretionary costs should properly be met by the Treasury.
Download or read book The Stationery Office Annual Catalogue written by Stationery Office (Great Britain) and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 556 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Annual Report For 2004 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Liaison Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annual report For 2004 : First report of session 2004-05, report, together with appendices and formal Minutes
Download or read book The Stationery Office Annual Catalogue written by Great Britain. Her Majesty's Stationery Office and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 748 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2008 09 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The FCO departmental report and resource accounts 2008-09 published as HC 460-I,II (ISBN 9780102961614)
Download or read book National Statistics Annual Report 2003 04 written by Great Britain. Office for National Statistics and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2004 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the fourth National Statistics annual report which highlights the variety of work carried out by statisticians and other analysts in the Government Statistical Service (GSS) during the year 2003-04. It considers the progress made in implementing the statistical plans set out in the National Statistics Work Programme for 2003/04 to 2005/06, across three main areas of work: major developments in cross-cutting departmental or theme boundaries; work carried out under the aegis of the 12 National Statistics Theme Groups; and quality improvements carried out in the context of the National Statistics Quality Review Programme.
Download or read book Holding Government to Account written by Henry C Midgley and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-12-03 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The National Audit Office has played an important role in the checks and balances of the UK parliamentary and political system over the last 40 years. This new book, more than just a history of the UK’s supreme audit institution, examines the very definition of accountability through both an historic and an academic lens, critically exploring questions about the role of audit in a democracy and how well it is working. Holding Government to Account draws on several unique sources of evidence, including interviews with senior officials from the National Audit Office and the civil service, as well as senior parliamentarians with experience of the NAO’s relationships with government and legislature. These interviews are supplemented by an analysis of previously unpublished manuscript material in the National Archives, examination of NAO reports and parliamentary and other reports focused on accountability. The book begins with a history of the National Audit Office in the context of the UK’s wider history. It then offers an overview of the constitutional, political and human legacies of the Exchequer and Audit Department, followed by a close examination of the National Audit Office’s leadership and decision-making from inception in 1984 through to the present. The authors conclude with an exploration of the way in which the meaning of public sector audit has evolved over time, in accordance with its wider political, ideological and material context. In doing so, they demonstrate that any question about the National Audit Office’s future and organisation is really a question about what democracy and good government mean in a modern bureaucratic state. Holding Government to Account will be of keen interest to students enrolled in courses on accounting, public administration, law and politics as well as to politicians, civil servants and Supreme Audit Institutions internationally.
Download or read book Journals of the House of Commons written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Active Diplomacy for a Changing World written by Great Britain: Foreign and Commonwealth Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-03-28 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2003 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) published its first white paper on the UK's international priorities, and has reviewed that paper every two years to ensure it remained relevant. This paper updates the analysis and establishes a new range of strategic priorities. Chapter 1 considers the trends driving global change over the next decade and how they will affect the UK: economics; demography and migration; resource pressures; climate change; religion and identity; poverty and governance; security and conflict; science and innovation. The next chapter looks at the UK's role in the international system and the key partnerships. This covers the United Nations, multilateral economic institutions such as the World Bank, the G8 and OECD, the Commonwealth and the European Union (EU), and relationships with the United States, China, India, Japan and Russia, and countries with important regional roles such as Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia. Chapter 3 outlines the nine strategic international priorities identified: (1) making the world safer from global terrorism and weapons of mass destruction; (2) reducing the harm from international crime, including drug and people trafficking, and money laundering; (3) preventing and resolving conflict through a strong international system; (4) building an effective and globally competitive EU; (5) supporting the UK economy through the global economy, science and innovation, and secure energy supplies; (6) promoting sustainable development and poverty reduction, underpinned by human rights, democracy, good governance and protection of the environment; (7) managing migration and combating illegal immigration; (8) delivering high-quality support for British nationals abroad; (9) ensuring the security and good governance of the UK's overseas territories. Chapter 4 sets out the role of the FCO in pursuing these priorities, and an annex gives specific aims for each strategic priority.
Download or read book British Foreign Policy written by O. Daddow and published by Springer. This book was released on 2011-06-21 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major review of New Labour's foreign policy from leading experts. This book re-imagines policy thinking, away from Churchill's idea of Britain as at the intersection of 'three circles' (the English speaking world, Europe, and the Commonwealth) and towards a new conceptual model that takes into account identity, ethics and power.
Download or read book Public Diplomacy written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-04-07 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The term 'public diplomacy' relates to activities designed to promote the image and interests of the UK overseas in support of the Government's objectives. The BBC World Service and the British Council are the main government-funded bodies involved in public diplomacy activity, and in 2004-05, they received £225 million and £172 million of grant-in-aid respectively. The Committee's report examines the work of these two organisations, in light of the recommendations of the review by Lord Carter of Cole (more details available at http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPageandc=Pageandcid=1007029395249) on the effectiveness of the Government's public diplomacy work, published in December 2005. The report makes 31 conclusions and recommendations, including the need for the Foreign Office to support an increase in the grant-in-aid funding for the BBC World Service so that it can introduce other television services such as the Arabic television news service; and that although it is appropriate for a Foreign Office minister to chair the new Public Diplomacy Strategy and Performance Management Board to ensure parliamentary accountability, this must not be allowed to compromise the editorial independence of the BBC World Service or the operational independence of the British Council.
Download or read book Parliamentary Debates Hansard written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons and published by . This book was released on 1918 with total page 1864 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contains the 4th session of the 28th Parliament through the session of the Parliament.
Download or read book Identity and Passport Service written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-10-10 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines how lessons learnt from the introduction of ePassports will be incorporated into future projects; the cost of authenticating applicants' identities; passport fee trends; the measures being taken by the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) to hold down passport fees; and working with others to reduce costs and improve border security. An ePassport contains an electronic chip storing biographical data and a digital facial image of the passport holder. From 2009 new second generation ePassports will incorporate the fingerprints of the passport holder. Passport fees have risen ahead of inflation since September 2003 to fund ePassport technology and other projects intended to improve the security of the UK passport. From 2009 all passport applicants will have to attend in person to provide fingerprints for inclusion in second generation ePassports. The set-up cost of data collection, validation and storage necessary to introduce these changes will be substantial. During 2007 IPS has been introducing personal interviews at its 69 new interviewing offices for first time adult passport applicants. At least one of the 69 offices is intended to be within an hour's travel by public or private transport for 95% of the UK population (except in remote locations). But elderly and disabled people may still face difficulties in making the journey. With the introduction of second generation ePassports, all applicants will need to attend a local office to give their fingerprints. The long term durability of the chip embedded in the ePassport book is unproven.
Download or read book Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts 2012 13 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Defence Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-03-07 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the sixth successive year, the Ministry of Defence Accounts were qualified. The Qualifications covered non-compliance with international reporting standards on the treatment of some contracts; lack of audit evidence on the valuation of inventory (worth some £3 billion) and of capital spares (worth some £7 billion); and on the regularity of the Accounts because of the failure to obtain approval for the remuneration package of the Chief of Defence Materiel. The MoD was also five months late in submitting its audited accounts to Parliament. The National Audit Office had found errors in its sample examination of accruals and so the MoD decided to resolve these problems before submitting the accounts. The MoD said they did not have the necessary expertise to manage the financial complexity that featured in the implementation of the Strategic Defence and Security Review so sought assistance. The MoD should ensure its people have the right skills to deal with all financial problems so that they do not need to bring in expensive external accountants. There is also concern about the MoD's reluctance to estimate the full costs of its operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. The NAO did not consider that the MoD has adequate information, especially with respect to recording the cost of its activities and outputs, to run its business effectively. The MoD should set out its commitment to improving its management information. It is also vital that defence spending remains at more than 2 per cent of GDP in line with the UK's NATO commitment.
