Value for money strategy
Lack of a clear, published strategy and framework for Value for Money (VfM) in government departments.
1,105 items
13 sources
3 inquiries
Strongest theme matches
Mixed across source types and ranked by classifier confidence plus text match strength.
Committee recommendation
91match
#3 - Department lacks understanding of long-term value for money for loan book management options.
The Department does not yet know which options for the loan book’s future management would provide best value for the taxpayer in the long term. The costs of managing the loan book to date have been significant, at about £17 million over three years. The Department has not forecast the costs of running the loan book beyond the...
Matched on
terms: money, value
NAO recommendation
90match
A planning and spending framework that enables long-term value for money
Parliament expects to be able to hold the government to account for its delivery of value for taxpayers? money. To do so, Parliament needs timely, complete and transparent information on the government?s objectives, business planning, funding allocations, performance against objectives, spending, and outcome evaluations. The government should inform Parliament what changes it will make to achieve this from...
Matched on
terms: money, value
Committee recommendation
87match
#5 - Set out plans to evaluate Homes for Ukraine scheme, including lessons and value for money.
The scheme was set up at speed and has helped 141,200 Ukrainians come to the UK, but DLUHC does not know fully what aspects of the scheme have or have not worked and whether overall the scheme has been value for money. DLUHC has gathered some, largely qualitative, information on how well the scheme is working, but it...
Matched on
terms: money, value
Committee recommendation
87match
#10 - Increasing EHC plan tribunal appeals indicate systemic failures and poor value for money
Parents are also increasingly appealing EHC plan decisions with the proportion being taken to a tribunal, parents’ final recourse for complaints, increasing from 1.6% in 2018 to 2.5% in 2023. The number of decisions appealed increased from 6,000 in 2018 to 15,600 in 2023. Nearly all (98%) were decided in favour of families, which the Department explained by...
Matched on
terms: money, value
Committee recommendation
87match
#11 - Universal support schemes led to deadweight costs, reducing overall value for money.
Most of the £44 billion of support was provided through schemes that were universal in nature, which means that some people who did not need the support still received it, affecting the schemes’ overall value for money.21 Written evidence we received from Octopus Energy, for example, said that while the decision to provide universal support was necessary for...
Matched on
terms: money, value
Committee recommendation
83match
#25 - Accounting Officer could not confirm Rwanda policy offers value for money without deterrence evidence.
Accounting Officers are responsible for approving, in advance, all significant initiatives, policies, programmes and projects, and should provide assurance to Parliament that those activities are meeting the accounting officer standards set out in Managing Public Money – regularity, propriety, value for money and feasibility.42 In April 2022, the Accounting Officer assessed that they were not able to conclude...
Matched on
terms: money, value
Committee recommendation
83match
#24 - Rwanda partnership's value for money depends on deterring a significant number of illegal entries.
The success—and value for money—of the Rwanda partnership depends on whether it deters people from making dangerous and illegal journeys to the UK, including small boat crossings. In 2023, the Home Office estimated that illegal entries need to reduce by one third from 2022 levels for the policy to represent value for money. Based on illegal migration levels...
Matched on
terms: money, value
Committee recommendation
83match
#15 - Large accommodation sites projected more costly than hotels, challenging value for money claims.
We asked the Home Office whether it was still satisfied that it was getting value for money, given the costs of the accommodation and the fact that capacity was much lower than anticipated. The Home Office’s latest assessment of value for money from January 2024 suggests that, in total, large accommodation sites will cost £46 million more than...
Matched on
terms: money, value
Committee recommendation
82match
#2 - Mandate Home Office to detail future due diligence processes protecting taxpayers' money on projects.
In its haste to establish large accommodation sites, the Home Office made unacceptable and avoidable mistakes, and failed to protect value for money. The Home Office asserts that its need to deal with a “national emergency” meant it had to take quick decisions, and so it pressed ahead with setting up expensive large asylum accommodation sites without an...
Matched on
terms: money, value
Committee recommendation
77match
#26 - Home Office lacks clear methodology and data for assessing Rwanda scheme's deterrent effect.
Assessing the deterrent effect, and thus value for money, of the scheme will be complex. The Home Office recognised that it will be difficult to isolate the impact of the Rwanda partnership from other government policies intended to stop small boat crossings and reduce illegal migration, such as the agreement with Albania to return failed asylum seekers, work...
Matched on
terms: money, value
NAO recommendation
77match
Increasing the capacity of the prison estate to meet demand
MoJ should combine thinking on policy objectives for the prison estate and improved evidence of different approaches to develop a long-term strategy to improve the resilience of the estate. It should: include the rationale for its approach based on value for money, for example, how it will balance the role of maintenance against expansion and how it will...
Matched on
terms: money, strategy, value
Inquiry recommendation
74match
RHI-31 - Value for Money Priority
Any imperative to spend a budget within a given timeframe should not be allowed to take precedence over how that budget is used and the longer term benefits and overall value of such expenditure. Ministers, Special Advisers and the Northern Ireland Civil Service all share responsibility for ensuring best practice in the use of taxpayers' money.
Matched on
terms: money, value
Committee recommendation
73match
#13 - Twenty-First Report - Government support for UK exporters
The Department told us that it has recently introduced a value for money model to assess the impact of its different interventions, but it is still relatively new. It recognised that there is work to do to improve its overall evidence base, particularly how exports change over time, and to make sure that it understands the long-term impacts...
Matched on
terms: money, value
NAO recommendation
73match
Dangerous cladding: the government’s remediation portfolio
MHCLG should consider whether there is additional information and data that it could publish about the portfolio that would: enhance the level of transparency for Parliament and the public over portfolio performance ? and therefore whether it is achieving value for taxpayers? money or whether it needs to change approach. For example, it could publish data on the...
Matched on
terms: money, value
NAO recommendation
73match
Investigation into the Bounce Back Loan Scheme
The Scheme achieved its initial objective of quickly supporting small businesses, but a lack of more detailed Scheme-specific objectives will make it difficult to measure its ultimate success. Systems and processes have evolved since the Scheme launch but much hard work remains over the coming months and years to ensure that the risks to value for money are...
Matched on
terms: money, value
NAO recommendation
72match
Improving the performance of major equipment contracts
f) The Department should pay greater consideration throughout a programme as to whether it remains value for money. Business cases set out whether the proposed option is VFM, but major changes in delivery dates, for example to make the portfolio more affordable in the short-term, and increases in forecast costs, can have a significant impact on whether a...
Matched on
terms: money, value
NAO recommendation
72match
DCMS’s management of its COVID-19 loan book
DCMS should: d Set out a strategy for the longer-term evaluation of its loan book. This assessment should include a clear articulation of the standards by which it assesses value for money of its management, including how it will know if the loans have met their objectives and how the loans have interacted with its wider support for...
Matched on
terms: money, strategy, value
Committee recommendation
69match
#29 - Department acknowledges insufficient evaluation of local authority road maintenance funding effectiveness.
We asked the Department how it would know which funding mechanism was most effective without evaluation. The Department told us that it does not evaluate everything that it allocates to local authorities because it relies on them to exercise their statutory duties for local roads, and that local authorities do not necessarily ringfence their funding from the Department....
Matched on
terms: money, value
Committee recommendation
69match
#28 - Department has not evaluated the actual impact of most local road maintenance funding.
The Department has evaluated only one of the 12 funding pots it has made available for local road maintenance over the last decade. The Department has also not evaluated the totality of the funding it has made available to local authorities for road maintenance, to assess whether it has led to an improvement in road conditions, or whether...
Matched on
terms: money, value
Committee recommendation
69match
#5 - Evaluate local road funding approaches and PFI schemes to inform future effectiveness.
The Department has not evaluated its approaches to funding local roads to know whether they are delivering value for money. Despite providing over £1 billion of funding each year to local authorities for the maintenance of local roads, the Department has not evaluated the totality of funding it has made available and what it has achieved from this....
Matched on
terms: money, value
Committee recommendation
69match
#2 - Set out plan by September 2025 for targeting future consumer support, addressing data matching challenges.
The Department would not yet be in a position to provide more targeted support to consumers and so reduce wasteful expenditure. Most of the £44 billion of support was provided through the schemes that were universal in nature, which means that some people who did not need the support still received it, affecting the schemes’ overall value for...
Matched on
terms: money, value
NAO recommendation
69match
The management of tax expenditures
e) establish and document clear requirements for officials to report concerns about the value for money of tax expenditures to ministers, for example by specifying accountability arrangements.
Matched on
terms: money, value
NAO recommendation
68match
The decommissioning of the AGR nuclear power stations
The Department should ensure that the NDA and Magnox Ltd have a clear plan for delivering value for money in the period post-transfer, taking advantage of any efficiencies to be realised from the combined AGR and Magnox fleets. The Department should agree performance metrics based on the plans and hold NDA and Magnox Ltd to account for delivery.
Matched on
terms: money, value
Committee recommendation
66match
#50 - Publish an implementation plan for the Women’s Health Strategy detailing timelines, costs, and resources.
The Government should publish an implementation plan for the Women’s Health Strategy for England detailing timelines, costs and resource. (Paragraph 184) Funding
Matched on
terms: strategy
Committee recommendation
66match
#33 - Significant WGA deficit in 2022-23 highlights urgent need for a long-term fiscal strategy.
Written evidence we received from the ICAEW stressed that, in the absence of discount rates noted in earlier sections, the UK government had a deficit of £200 billion in 2022–23. The ICAEW noted that this deficit is more than 20% of the revenue the UK government received in 2022–23 (£975 billion) and that this deficit is greater than...
Matched on
terms: strategy
Committee recommendation
66match
#68 - Create a National Screen Heritage Strategy with BFI covering funding, skills and infrastructure.
Within the next 12 months, the Government should work with the BFI and wider screen heritage sector to create a National Screen Heritage Strategy, including in the areas of funding, skills and infrastructure. The strategy should be reviewed and renewed periodically, to maintain focus on the needs and resilience of screen archives, rather than being allowed to expire...
Matched on
terms: strategy
Committee recommendation
65match
#2 - Revisit and revise Cabinet Office 'Case for Change'; complete future business cases fully.
The Cabinet Office did not produce an overarching business case for the Shared Services Strategy, which has hindered progress. HM Treasury’s guidance to government departments states that a business case should be used to support all major programmes and projects considered by the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office did not follow this guidance and instead produced a “Case...
Matched on
terms: strategy
Committee recommendation
65match
#22 - Reactive pothole repairs prove inefficient and less cost-effective than proactive road maintenance.
However, potholes are just a symptom of poor road conditions and, as we heard, they are not necessarily being fixed properly or efficiently so money is just being wasted.41 For example, the AA told us that in its view too much is being spent on short-term reactive maintenance, including only temporarily repairing potholes, relative to more proactive, permanent...
Matched on
terms: money, value
Committee recommendation
65match
#7 - Department lacks clear outcomes and oversight for non-ringfenced local road maintenance funding.
We asked the Department what outcomes it was looking to achieve from the funding it provides to local authorities, which is over £1 billion each year. The Department told us that this was a live discussion with Ministers as part of the spending review and it would be looking to determine what metrics should be used to measure...
Matched on
terms: money
Committee recommendation
65match
#4 - Set out methodology to estimate Criminal Justice System costs due to prison capacity pressures.
The prison capacity crisis has led to decisions and inefficiencies which represent poor value for money. Maintaining and making best use of the existing prison estate represents better value than building new places. However, capacity constraints mean that MoJ and HMPPS are unable to make cost–effective decisions. For example, HMPPS needs cells to be empty to undertake essential...
Matched on
terms: money, value
NAO recommendation
64match
Network Rail’s sale of railway arches
The selling department should consider and document on a timely basis whether contracting with the new owners in areas such as future investment plans and explicit customer protections provides value for money.
Matched on
terms: money, value
Committee recommendation
61match
#30 - Previous local road maintenance incentive scheme lacked evaluation and independent auditing oversight.
The Department also told us that, as part of developing a new incentive funding scheme for local authorities on local road maintenance, it will be looking at learning from the previous scheme.63 In that scheme, the Department had made more money available to those local authorities that self-assessed that they had implemented good asset management practices.64 The NAO...
Matched on
terms: money
Committee recommendation
61match
#18 - Department lacks systemic understanding of how schools spend unringfenced disadvantage funding.
The Department’s policy is to allow schools and other providers autonomy and flexibility to support disadvantaged children in a way that suits local circumstances and their pupils’ needs. More than 90% of the estimated £9.2 billion funding associated with disadvantage is not “ringfenced”. Schools can choose how to spend this money which may be on wider priorities or...
Matched on
terms: money
NAO recommendation
60match
Teacher workforce: secondary and further education
DfE should, as part of its thinking around meeting the 6,500 pledge, fully assess, balance and manage the implications for value for money, affordability, responding to future teaching requirements and demographics, and the extent to which it can deliver its longer-term aims.
Matched on
terms: money, value
NAO recommendation
60match
Investigation into student finance for study at franchised higher education providers
explicitly consider the inherent risks associated with using franchised providers, and the extent to which they represent value for money, setting out how it will manage these risks. This should include consideration of both its risk exposure across the higher education sector and the benefits franchised providers can generate by broadening higher education participation
Matched on
terms: money, value
NAO recommendation
60match
Regulating the financial sustainability of higher education providers in England
g) prioritise finalising its key performance indicator on how it assesses the value for money students see in their education and set out how its work will reverse students’ declining satisfaction rates.
Matched on
terms: money, value
NAO recommendation
60match
Financial sustainability of colleges in England
In light of our findings and the fact that more colleges are expected to face financial difficulties following the COVID-19 pandemic, we recommend that the Department and the ESFA should take the following actions: a) Set out a clear vision for the role, structure and funding of the college sector as part of the long-term reform programme. The...
Matched on
terms: strategy
PFD report
57match
Jessica Baker
Concerns exist regarding the lack of clear government advice to schools on seatbelt use in commuter coaches and insufficient public information campaigns promoting seatbelt safety for children.
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
57match
#12 - Department lacks clear plan for government to share in successful CCUS project profits
We asked the Department whether its business models allow for the government to take a share of any profit a project makes if the programme is successful.37 But the Department could not provide a compelling answer.38 Now that the Department has signed its first two contracts for carbon capture and storage, this will produce an “incredibly better investment”...
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
57match
#47 - Stronger case now exists for assessing VAT cuts across the creative industries.
It is understandable that the exhibition sector seeks a VAT reduction when it faces so many challenges around costs, box office revenue and infrastructure. However, those calls must be considered alongside the regular requests we hear for reduced rates of VAT from across the creative industries, and the Government’s broader economic and policy position. The Government has ignored...
Matched on
terms: strategy
Committee recommendation
57match
#19 - Benchmark UK film and HETV tax incentives against international competitors and review changes.
Twice a year, the Government should benchmark the value and eligibility criteria of the UK’s film and HETV tax incentives against those of other countries. Where the UK’s offer is found to be less competitive, the Government should immediately review the financial case for changing the 102 UK’s incentives in the context of the full range of economic...
Matched on
terms: value
NAO recommendation
56match
Government Shared Services
d) The Cabinet Office should ensure that future strategies that propose similar transformational change are supported by a full business case. It should revisit and update the ?case for change? to make this a more comprehensive assessment of the costs and benefits of the strategy, working with departments to ensure benefits are calculated consistently
Matched on
terms: strategy
Committee recommendation
53match
#15 - Cabinet Office failed to quantify programme-wide shared services costs and benefits from outset.
The Cabinet Office’s original expectation was that the strategy would lead to savings of 10% to 15% in operating costs, based on what other large public and private sector organisations across the world had been able to achieve.26 It did not calculate specific programme-wide costs and benefits from the outset. Its benefits database included written descriptions of benefits...
Matched on
terms: strategy
Committee recommendation
53match
#21 - Home Office exits leave hotels in derelict conditions, burdening local communities with regeneration costs.
We have heard reports, including from our own constituencies, that some hotels have been left in derelict conditions following the Home Office exiting them. We received written evidence from London Councils which told us that there were concerns across the London boroughs about the standards of accommodation, including (but not limited to) concerns about poor light and ventilation,...
Matched on
terms: money
Committee recommendation
53match
#10 - Home Office unable to explain significant additional escort training costs for Rwanda scheme.
The Home Office has estimated that it would cost £11,000 to fly each relocated individual to Rwanda. Witnesses told us that this was an internal estimate and actual costs would depend on a number of variables. The Home Office will also need to pay additional costs to escort people to Rwanda but did not provide an estimate of...
Matched on
terms: money
Committee recommendation
53match
#5 - Set out rationale for supporting CCUS in each sector, considering cost-effective alternatives
To date, the Department has done little to ensure that government support for CCUS is directed to the sectors or locations where it will be essential for achieving net zero. CCUS is currently seen as the only way to decarbonise certain industries. For example, it is estimated that 60–70% 6 of carbon emissions from the cement industry comes...
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
53match
#24 - Expensive Nightingale courts continue operating despite significant underuse of main estate.
MoJ told us that it has spent “a significant amount of money” on maintaining the court estate over the last two years.64 HMCTS told us that there is a significant maintenance backlog, but nevertheless assured us that the total capacity of Crown Court courtrooms is adequate for the current number of sitting days and is not a constraint...
Matched on
terms: money
NAO recommendation
52match
Regulation of private renting
The Department is planning to introduce reforms to the private rented sector and our recommendations are aimed at supporting this process. The Department should do the following: a) Define an overall vision and strategy for the regulation of private renting. This should include consideration of how the sector should be regulated and how it is affected by other...
Matched on
terms: strategy
HMICFRS recommendation
51match
FRS 2021-22 CoC Recommendations: North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
Cause of concern: The service doesn’t have in place robust processes to ensure transformation activities provide efficiency and effectiveness. Recommendation: By September 2022, the service should put in place plans that are designed to monitor, review and evaluate its collaboration activities, such as enabling services, to make sure they achieve best value for money and are beneficial for...
Matched on
terms: money, value
IMB recommendation
51match
East Sutton Park (2022)
To continue to ensure that residents coming to ESP have enough time left to serve, to ensure that the greatest benefit in resettlement can be achieved, and therefore representing value for money.
Matched on
terms: money, value