Value for Money

Investigation into NHS Property Services Limited

Published 1 May 2014 8 recommendations Department of Health and Social Care Health and social care nao.org.uk
In response to questions raised by the House of Commons Health Committee in late 2013 and wider Parliamentary interest, we conducted an investigation into five specific concerns about NHS Property Services. Our investigation established the facts relating to these concerns.
May 2014

Recommendations (8)

Source: NAO Recommendations Tracker · PAC follow-up below
6
Accepted
2
Partially Accepted
8
Implemented
8
NAO Confirmed
Department of Health and Social Care
Rec 1 Accepted Implemented
The Department, in collaboration with national bodies and the Service should: a) develop a plan to ensure that the Service and all tenants of the Service’s premises will agree tenancy details and amounts by 31 March 2020; and
Page 13, paragraph 17, point a 04/2020 NHS England and NHS Improvement; NHS Property Services
Department of Health and Social Care
Rec 2 Partially Accepted Implemented
b) put in place an efficient dispute resolution process whereby all disputes are settled within 90 days of invoicing and agree a plan to clear outstanding disputes including a service-level agreement for responding to queries from tenants in a reasonable time so that there is agreement on the nature and value of the disputed amount before entering the arbitration process.
Page 13, paragraph 17, point b 04/2021 NHS England and NHS Improvement; NHS Property Services
Department of Health and Social Care
Rec 3 Accepted Implemented
The Department and national bodies should: c) examine ways to encourage occupiers and local health economies to take greater ownership of paying for the Service’s estate.
Page 13, paragraph 17, point c 04/2020 NHS England and NHS Improvement
Department of Health and Social Care
Rec 4 Accepted Implemented
The Department should: d) provide stronger challenge to the Service’s process for setting directors’ bonuses, so that bonuses are paid for achieving genuinely stretching and important targets; and
Page 13, paragraph 17, point d 04/2020
Department of Health and Social Care
Rec 5 Accepted Implemented
e) complete the strategic review of the Service in time to inform decision-making in the expected 2019 Spending Review.
Page 13, paragraph 17, point e 09/2020
NHS Property Services
Rec 6 Partially Accepted Implemented
The Service should: f) build on its existing quality metrics, with input from stakeholders, so that its performance can be monitored, including the accuracy of billing;
Page 13, paragraph 17, point f 04/2021
NHS Property Services
Rec 7 Accepted Implemented
g) continue to reduce the time it takes to issue bills; and
Page 13, paragraph 17, point g 04/2021
NHS Property Services
Rec 8 Accepted Implemented
h) review its capacity to deal with queries in an effective and timely manner.
Page 13, paragraph 17, point h 04/2021

Parliamentary Committee Follow-Up

The Public Accounts Committee examined this NAO report and published its own recommendations. The government responds to PAC recommendations via Treasury Minutes.

1st Report - NHS Property Services
Public Accounts Committee · 5 November 2019
View PAC report & government responses parliament.uk