Download or read book The right of access to open countryside written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-06-21 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Countryside Rights of Way Act 2000 introduced a public right to walk across designated mountain, moor, heath, downs and registered common land in England. DEFRA tasked the Countryside Agency with opening-up the new access by the end of 2005, and the target was met with two months to spare. However the implementation of the right to roam cost the Countryside Agency £24.6 million more than anticipated, with knock-on impacts on other programmes. This report looks at the implementation of open access and the effect of the policy under the headings: encouraging the public to use the right to roam across the countryside; protecting the environment of access land and the rights of landowners; improving planning and project management. However the success of legislation is as yet unknown because there is no information on the extent to which the public are making use of their new right. In October 2006 the responsibility for open access passed from the Countryside Agency to Natural England.

Download or read book Parliamentary Papers written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons and published by . This book was released on 1873 with total page 654 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Reports from Committees of the House of Commons written by and published by . This book was released on 1803 with total page 870 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Reports from Committees of the House of Commons written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons and published by . This book was released on 1803 with total page 872 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Department of Health written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-06-07 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Properly managed, the use of temporary nurses can play an important role in helping hospital achieve flexibility. However their high use can have a detrimental impact on patient care and satisfaction. In 2001 the Department of Health anticipated that a growth in the NHS workforce would lead to a decline in the use of temporary staff but in spite of this intention temporary nurses still account for the same percentage of the nursing budget (around 9%). On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Committee has investigated the extent of the use of temporary nurses; whether the process is properly planned and managed; and whether there are safety and quality implications. One of the conclusions is that there has a lack of planning and it is only as a result of the problem with deficits that the NHS has taken a more co-ordinated approach

Download or read book Reports from Committees of the House of Commons which Have Been Printed by Order of the House written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons and published by . This book was released on 1803 with total page 869 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book H M Treasury written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-11-27 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) there are now 800 contracts with private sector suppliers for services worth in total £155 billion up to 2032. To achieve value for money, all stages of a project have to be managed effectively, including in the tendering process. The Committee, in a 2003 report highlighted a number of issues regarding the PFI tendering process (HCP 764, session 2002-03, ISBN 9780215011244). This report re-examines the tendering and benchmarking in PFI, finding that the Treasury had done little to apply what it had learned from the large number of PFI deals signed; that there has been no improvement in tendering times and significant risks to value for money continue to be taken when public authorities make late changes to deals. The Committee has set out 7 conclusions and recommendations, including: that since 2004, the proportion of deals attracting only two bidders has more than doubled with the risk of no competition; one third of public sector teams made changes to PFI projects after they had selected a single, preferred bidder; benchmarking and market testing have increased prices by up to 14%; public authorities have found it difficult to find appropriate data to benchmark PFI service costs; there is evidence that public authorities, faced with price increases have had to cut back services in hospitals, including portering, to keep contracts affordable; that there is a continuing lack of PFI experience and skills within public procurement teams.

Download or read book Sessional Index for Session written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book HM Revenue and Customs written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-06-12 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In January 2004, the Inland Revenue entered into a contract with Capgemini to provide IT services to support the Department's business. The contract, known as ASPIRE (Acquiring Strategic Partners for the Inland Revenue), replaced two previous contracts with EDS and Accenture and, following the merger of the Inland Revenue and HM Customs & Excise in 2005, the latter's IT services contract with Fujitsu was incorporated within ASPIRE in April 2006. This change from one supplier to another was the first of this scale in the public sector, and the contract provides wider lessons for the public sector in re-competing major contracts, particularly relating to the payment of transition costs. The cost of the contract has risen from £2.83 billion to £8.5 billion over the 10 year term. Following on from a NAO report on this topic (HCP 938, session 2005-06; ISBN 9780102939170) published in July 2006, the Committee's report examines the procurement process, the transition to a new supplier and the performance of the ASPIRE contract to date. Findings include: i) before concluding the deal, the Department should have evaluated bids against a range of demands for IT services and analysed the effect of different scenarios on suppliers' prices and profit margins; ii) it should have evaluated the performance of consultants and the lessons to be learned from their use, not only for their own benefit but for that of other departments; iii) by contributing to bid costs and paying transition costs to secure competition for the contract, the Department incurred a premium of £51.9 million; iv) it should set more challenging performance targets to impose sufficient discipline on suppliers; and v) the Government should not be placed in the invidious position of having to commission further work from a contractor in order to recover compensation for underperformance.

Download or read book The Impact of the Office of Government Commerce s Initiatives on the Delivery of Major IT enabled Projects written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-07-05 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Central civil government annually spends £2.3 billion on information technology, some 16% of its total procurement budget. This report examines the progress the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has made in improving departments' capacity to deliver successful IT projects and programmes. In particular it looks at the application of the Gateway Review Process, where there is an independent review of projects at critical points; the use of OGC initiatives by departments; and engagement with suppliers.

Download or read book Sessional Papers written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 1082 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

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 Ofgem written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-05-26 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some 2.25 million households in the UK are classified as being in fuel poverty, spending more than 10 per cent of their income on energy to heat their homes. Some consumers get into debt, often through inaccurate estimated bills, and they are then required to use pre-payment meters, even though this is the most expensive way of purchasing energy. Ofgems encouragement of suppliers to recover the cost of installing and using pre-payment meters is found to be inconsistent with its obligations towards vulnerable consumers (in contrast, Ofgem protects rural consumers from paying the higher costs of delivering energy to their homes). The Committee concludes that suppliers should provide accurate bills, should not discriminate against pre-payment meter consumers, and should provide more information to them about the disadvantages of those meters. On the energy efficiency commitment (administered by Ofgem), requiring energy suppliers to meet specific energy saving targets, the Committee queries whether the provision of measures such as cavity wall insulation and low-energy lightbulbs, do actually deliver the energy reduction intended. Ofgem, with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the energy suppliers, should undertake a national campaign to encourage energy efficiency. Clearer explanation of the environmental measures to save energy, and their costs to consumers, is recommended.

Download or read book The BBC s White City 2 Development written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-02-14 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The BBC's White City 2 property development in West London comprises three new buildings, which were built next to an existing BBC building known as White City 1. White City 2 was financed by Land Securities Trillium under a 30 year partnership deal with the BBC, which also covered property services at 48 other BBC locations. The cost of construction for White City 2 was £210 million, along with £60.9 million for furniture and technical fit-out of the buildings. The development was completed on time, but the Committee of Public Accounts found several aspects of the project constituting risks to value for money. The cost of the development also exceeded the amount originally approved by the BBC Governors, along with significant variations to the scheme as the project progressed. The Committee set out a number of conclusions and recommendations: that the whole life costs of projects should be assessed and made available to the BBC Governors; the BBC should better integrate design and construction, so reducing the risk of design changes after contracts have begun; the license fee money should not be used to subsidise the BBC's commercial subsidiaries, and that rent charged for the sublet of buildings should meet the BBC's costs; that the BBC should not hold on to property which it does not need or which it cannot use cost-effectively; the BBC in future should follow public sector good practice, in particular in estimating whole life costs of projects, monitoring returns to the private sector, obtaining refinancing benefits, and integrating design and construction.

Download or read book Difficult Forms written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2004 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forms are one of the most frequent ways a citizen interacts with government departments. If a form is badly designed it is likely lead to errors and increase processing costs, also the public is less inclined to believe that progress is being made to a more responsive and accessible service. Based on an NAO report (HC 1145 2002-03 ISBN 0102923604), the Committee took evidence from the Inland Revenue, DES, DWP and Passport Service on the three main issues of: designing user friendly forms; improved administrative efficiency; progress to providing online services. The \are 12 main recommendations.

Download or read book Meeting Needs written by House of Commons and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-10-30 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Giving offenders opportunities to improve their basic and vocational skills can enhance their prospects of getting a job and is a major part of the Government's policy for reducing re-offending. In 2003, Ministers decided that the Learning and Skills Council (the LSC) should take over responsibility for a new Offenders' Learning and Skills Service which, after piloting, the LSC rolled out across England in July 2006. Delivering learning and skills to offenders is challenging, because the operational requirements of the Criminal Justice System takes priority, and because offenders often have other problems such as mental health difficulties and dependence on alcohol or drugs. Nevertheless, the new Service set out to overcome many of these longstanding problems. In practice it has not succeeded. The National Audit Office's examination of prisoners' learning records showed that there was not record of assessment for a quarter of prisoners. Learning plans are frequently deficient and not recording progress. Also, although enrolment is voluntary, more could be done to motivate offenders to take up opportunities. There is currently no core curriculum and inconsistencies make continuation difficult when prisoners transfer between prisons or into probation. The prison service and education providers are not working adequately together and there is insufficient research to allow informed changes. On the basis of the NAO report the Committee took evidence from the LSC, National Offender Management Service & the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills

Download or read book Progress in combat identification written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-05 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combat identification is the way military personnel distinguish friend from foe and non-combatants during operations, thereby minimising the risk of deaths and injuries from friendly fire as well as damage to property and infrastructure, whilst maintaining operational effectiveness. It is a complex issue as it spans all the military environments (land, maritime and air), particularly when operations are conducted in coalition with allies, as this requires interoperability of equipment and harmonisation of tactics and practices. Following on from an NAO report (HCP 936, session 2005-06, ISBN 9780102937169) published in March 2006, the Committee's report examines three main issues: progress on equipment projects to improve combat identification; Operation TELIC and investigations into friendly fire deaths; and data collection of friendly fire incidents. Amongst its conclusions, the report finds that the MoD has failed to develop viable combat identification solutions to counter the risks of friendly fire incidents, despite their devastating effects and despite the recommendations made by the Committee in 1992 and 2002, with significant delays in equipment programmes such as the Battlefield Target Identification System. Given the considerable delays in the time the MoD took to conclude the investigations into friendly fire incidents and to make the findings publicly available, the report recommends that once investigations into friendly fire incidents are complete, the MoD should publish the findings of Boards of Inquiry within one month.