Finance

The Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act is on track to make savings but it is not clear whether the reforms have delivered better value for money, the National Audit Office (NAO) reported today.

The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) launched the Global Fraud Risk Register, its new global initiative for tackling fraud across the public sector.

The government should introduce five-year spending plans and independent assessments of its infrastructure plans, former cabinet secretary Lord O’Donnell told an audience at the Royal Statistical Society last month. 

Finance professionals across government should “get on the front foot” and make sure they’re involved in the policymaking process, the government’s new director-general of public spending, Julian Kelly, has said.

HM Revenue and Customs will gain greater ability to clamp down on tax evaders following the signing of an international agreement on tax evasion at the Global Forum in Berlin today. 

Chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander yesterday confirmed government proposals to regulate redundancy payouts for highly paid administrators in the public sector. 

A six week government consultation published this week aims to strengthen the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) capacity to better deal with companies breaking the law over nuisance calls and texts. 

DWP are now facing an “escalating problem” with housing benefit error from both claimants and officials, according to National Audit Office (NAO).

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced plans to start recruiting for the roles of pensions ombudsman and deputy pensions ombudsman for 2015.

An official responsible for an IT contracting error which cost the Ministry of Defence (MoD) £70m is no longer working for the department, its permanent secretary Jon Thompson told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on 16 June​.

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) needs to get “to grips with effective oversight to improve public confidence in the system,” the Public Accounts Committee warned in a report.

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has committed to spending up to £10bn on the government’s Help to Buy scheme without establishing whether it represents the most effective way of using taxpayers’ money, the Public Accounts Committee have said in a report published on 18 July.