Download or read book The Refinancing of the Norfolk and Norwich PFI Hospital written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-06-10 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust currently pays £38.7 million a year to a private sector consortium, Octagon, for the building and maintaining of a new hospital. This pathfinder PFI contract was entered into in 1998 but in 2003 Octagon was able to refinance their deal and gain £81 million (some of which was shared with the Trust). This report examines whether the large private sector gains indicates some inadequacy in the initial PFI deal and how the price the Trust is paying compares to current PFI hospital deals. The overall findings were that Trust continues to pay a premium on financing costs compared to current deals and it might have improved the original deal with greater competition and better defined requirements. However the Trust believes it gained benefit from the early provision of facilities in a deal that had previously been assessed as good value for money.
Download or read book The Refinancing of the Norfolk and Norwich PFI Hospital written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1998 the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust (the Trust) let one of the first PFI hospital contracts to a private sector consortium, Octagon. In 2003, two years after the new hospital opened, Octagon refinanced the project. The total refinancing gain was £116 million. £82 million of the gain was retained by Octagon increasing its investors' internal rate of return, which it had said would be 19 per cent when it bid for the contract, to 60 per cent. There was no contractual arrangement to share in refinancing gains, but the Trust negotiated to receive £34 million of the gains (29 per cent, far below the normal 50:50 basis common in new PFI contracts). To maximise the refinancing gains, the Trust agreed to extend the minimum period of its PFI contract by five years to 2037, but the Committee feels it need not have incurred the risks of extending the contract. The Trust's liabilities could now also include all the additional borrowings by Octagon, and it could have to pay up to £257 million more if it needs to end this PFI contract early. This refinancing has produced a balance of risks and rewards between the public and private sectors which, even for an early PFI deal, is unacceptable. The Committee concludes that the consortium's dealings with the public sector have shown the unacceptable face of capitalism.
Download or read book The Refinancing of the Norfolk and Norwich PFI Hospital Report Together with Formal Minutes Oral and Written Evidence written by Great Britain. Parliament House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Octagon Healthcare Funding Plc written by Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Update on PFI Debt Refinancing and the PFI Equity Market written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-04-21 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Findings from this NAO report include that the government has secured gains of £137 million from Private Finance Initiative (PFI) debt refinancings under new arrangements introduced by the Treasury in 2002 (including £102 million from four large refinancings (one of the London Underground contracts and three hospital projects: Norfolk and Norwich, Darent Valley and Bromley). The NAO found that the new sharing arrangements through a voluntary Code appear to be generally working well but there have been exceptions, for example in three road projects the public sector missed out on at least £1.7 million because gains were not shared in accordance with the voluntary code. The report also describes the emergence of the PFI secondary market which is enabling equity investors in PFI projects to sell their shares on to new investors.
Download or read book The Termination of the PFI Contract for the National Physical Laboratory written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-05-10 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1998, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Laser, a special purpose company jointly owned by Serco Group plc and John Laing plc, signed a 25-year long Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract. Laser would build and manage new facilities for the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), comprising 16 linked modules, containing over 400 laboratories, and replacing many existing buildings. The planned cost of the new buildings was approximately £96 million. The DTI would pay Laser a unitary charge, of £11.5 million (1998 prices) a year once the new buildings were ready, the charge increasing annually based on the increase in retail prices. The project suffered considerable construction delays and difficulties in achieving the specification for some parts of the buildings, mainly due to deficient design. In December 2004, it was agreed to terminate the PFI contract. The DTI paid Laser £75 million for its interest in the new buildings. This was the first termination of a major PFI contract involving serious non-performance. This report examines the problems that led to the termination, why these problems arose, how the Department managed them and the value for money consequences of the termination. The report finds that the DTI successfully transferred risk in the PFI contract to the private sector, but that the project risks could have been reduced with firmer control and better communication. Up to and including the termination, the Department's investment in the new facilities was about £122 million (March 2005 prices). In return, the Department secured an asset valued at £85 million and for which all but eight of more than 400 laboratories should be capable of being made to meet its specification in full. The private sector reported a loss of at least £100 million.
Download or read book Using the Contract to Maximise the Likelihood of Successful Project Outcomes written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-06-07 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report is one of a series of studies by the NAO which examine key factors involved in improving project performance in defence equipment procurement, with the aim of establishing best practice in relation to a theoretical 'gold standard' developed by assessing and comparing results of overseas and commercial operations. Following on from the first report in the series (HCP 30, session 2005-06, ISBN 0102932611) which identified the contract as a key component of project control, this report sets out recommendations on how the Ministry of Defence and its industry partners can best use the contract to maximise the likelihood of successful project outcomes. (It does not examine methods (competitive or otherwise) the MoD might pursue to select a potential supplier, as the effective use of competition will be the subject of a future report). More information on the evidence underlying the recommendations in this report and the gold standard criteria developed can be found on the website: www.naodefencevfm.org
Download or read book VAT on E commerce written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-05-26 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The value of internet sales (known as e-commerce) in the UK has more than trebled between 2002 and 2004 to £18.1 billion, with a further surge around Christmas 2005, and this level is expected to rise to nearly £60 billion a year by 2010. It is estimated that in 2005-06 HM Revenue and Customs collected over £1 billion in VAT on e-commerce goods and services. HM Revenue and Customs does not separately identify the exact amount of VAT collected from e-commerce because businesses are required to calculate and pay over VAT for their entire taxable activities, which include both traditional forms of business and e-commerce. In light of these developments, this NAO report examines the implications of the growth in e-commerce for VAT collection and the approach of HM Revenue and Customs to VAT collection. The report finds that HM Revenue and Customs has been alert to emerging areas of risk, such as the failure of e-commerce businesses to register for VAT and the non-payment or underpayment of import VAT on goods ordered over the internet from outside the EU. The report supports the assessment by HM Revenue and Customs that the overall risk to VAT revenue from on-line shopping is currently low, but as activity increases in this fast changing environment, it will be important that the Department builds on its work to keep abreast of possible changes in the patterns and levels of risk to VAT.
Download or read book Improving the Use of Temporary Nursing Staff in NHS Acute and Foundation Trusts written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-07-12 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes booklet 'Good practice in managing the use of temporary nursing staff' (39 p., 21 cm) on inside back cover.
Download or read book International Benchmark of Fraud and Error in Social Security Systems written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-07-20 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The report, based on research carried out by RAND Europe and commissioned by the National Audit Office, presents the results of a benchmarking exercise investigating the issue of fraud and error in the social security systems of eight European and non-European countries (covering Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the United States). The study describes the different systems studied, assesses the scale and prominence of the problem in a national context, outlines approaches taken to measure and to reduce fraud and error, and draws out the principal themes emerging from the comparisons of relevance for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Findings include that the availability of data and methodologies for measuring fraud and error at national level vary considerably, but the DWP is at the forefront in developing estimates of losses arising from fraud and error in social security expenditure. The high levels of estimated fraud and error in expenditure on benefits, £2.6 billion in 2004-05, have led to the NAO qualifying the DWP's accounts and those of the former Department of Social Security for 16 years in a row. The rates of fraud at the DWP appear comparable to those of other countries, such as USA, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand, and it compares favourably in terms of awareness of the problem and activities to combat the problem.
Download or read book Losing Labour s Soul written by Eric Shaw and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-08-17 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on extensive original research and interviews with a wide variety of key players, this is a compelling assessment of the Labour Party in power. Beginning with a detailed account of the development of New Labour, including the ideological tensions within the party, Eric Shaw provides a sophisticated analysis of the Labour Government during an unprecedented period of power. Offering the most detailed examination yet published of the actual performance of the party in several key social and economic policy areas, Losing Labour’s Soul? will be of enormous interest to students of British politics, labour history and party politics.
Download or read book Burning Our Money written by Mike Denham and published by Biteback Publishing. This book was released on 2013-02-21 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Britain is in the midst of a fierce battle over government spending. With debts mounting rapidly, the ?700 billion annual bill is no longer sustainable. But cuts face a wall of opposition, with dire warnings that they will ravage our society: hospital waiting lists will grow, schools will close and the poor will tumble into a new Dickensian abyss. Yet much of what the government currently spends is wasted, and public sector performance is often woeful. In Burning Our Money, Mike Denham casts a critical eye over the services we receive for our hard-earned cash, and finds them radically - often shockingly - wanting. For all the media insistence that the NHS is 'the envy of the world', it stacks up poorly against European healthcare systems. For all our apparently soaring exam grades, our children significantly underperform their future competitors in China, Korea and elsewhere. And for all our hand-wringing about abolishing poverty, our huge welfare system actually damages many of the poor it's supposed to help. Drawing on extensive research and up-to-the-minute reporting, Burning Our Money comprehensively debunks the myth that more public spending means better public services, and shows how we can - and must - get more for less.
Download or read book Public Sector Auditing written by Sir John Bourn and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-07-31 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on 20 years of experience as Comptroller and Auditor General, and head of the United Kingdom National Audit Office, Public Sector Auditing: Is it Value for Money? is Sir John Bourn’s own account of the role and influence value for money auditing has in holding governments to account and in helping public bodies improve the ways in which they deliver services. Key features include: In-depth case studies from UK, US, Canada, China, India and Australia; Detailed analysis of complex areas of public expenditure such as health, education, privatisation, regulation, defence and IT; Examples of how auditing can promote positive outcomes rather than negative post mortems. This book is relevant for people working in both the public and private sectors, and should be essential reading for the staff of public sector audit institutions around the world, as well as commercial accountancy firms and students of accountancy, politics, economics and public management.
Download or read book A Safer Place for Patients written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-11-03 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Department of Health estimates that one in ten patients admitted to NHS hospitals will be unintentionally harmed (a rate similar to other developed countries), due to incidents such as an injury from a fall, medication errors, equipment related incidents, record documentation errors and hospital acquired infections. About half of such incidents could have been avoided, if lessons from previous incidents had been learned. This NAO report examines the progress being made in the NHS to improve the patient safety culture, to encourage incident reporting and to learn lessons for the future. The report finds that most trusts have developed a predominantly open and fair reporting culture at the local level, driven largely by the Department of Health's clinical governance initiative and more effective risk management systems. However, a 'blame culture' still exists in some trusts, and there have been delays in establishing an effective national reporting system. There is scope for improving strategies for sharing good practice and for monitoring that lessons are learned.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Health Care Management written by Ewan Ferlie and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbook of Healthcare Management offers a variety of current scholarly perspectives which explore important policy developments in health care management on an international basis.
Download or read book Understanding Health Policy written by Rob Baggott and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2007-06-13 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In recent years the pace of reform in health policy and the NHS has been relentless. But how are policies formed and implemented? This new book takes a fresh look at the processes and institutions that make health policy, examining such questions as what constitutes health policy, where power lies, and what changes could be made to improve the quality of health policy making." "Written particularly with the needs of students and tutors in mind, this textbook will also be invaluable to policy makers, practitioners and researchers in the health policy field."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book Department of Health departmental report 2007 written by Great Britain: Department of Health and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-05-17 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dated May 2007. On cover: Departmental report. The health and personal social services programmes
