Annual Reports

PB: The Parole Board has published its Annual Report and Accounts for 2008/09, reporting on its performance against business plan targets, statistics for determinate sentence & indeterminate sentence prisoners and accounts for the year.
 
The report records the work carried out by the Board last year to maintain its high standards of risk assessment during a year in which it faced the twin challenges of a critical shortage of judicial resources and continued changes to its workload as a result of government legislation.
Press release ~ Annual Report and Accounts for 2008/09
 
PB: The Parole Board has published its Business Plan for 2009/10, setting out its aims, objectives, targets and projected workloads for the coming 12 months.  The Plan details how the Board will manage the changing nature of its work as it faces an increased workload and a consultation over the future of the Board itself.
Press release ~ Parole Board for England and Wales Business Plan 2009/10
 
COI: The Central Office of Information (COI) has published its annual report & accounts for 2008/9. The report reveals that COI secured ‘record savings’ for the government departments and public sector bodies it serves.  Its centralised buying position meant it was able to negotiate a 49.9% reduction in media costs against recognised industry benchmarks, a saving of £241m.  This is in addition to the £50m savings made across a range of other services such as publications, direct marketing & events.
 
The report shows that government departments and public sector bodies spent a total of £540m on marketing & communications through COI during 2008/9, up 43% on the previous year. The increases have been driven by departments taking greater advantage of COI’s centralised buying position & expertise and the growing need for government to effectively communicate important information to the public.
Press release ~ COI annual report and accounts for 2008/9 (VLF 7.5Mb)
 
HMCSInnovative ways to improve the public’s experience of courts; improvements against performance targets; providing fair and simple routes to civil and family justice: these are some of the highlights of the HMCS Annual Report & Accounts 2008/09.
 
The court user satisfaction survey shows that 83% were ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ with their experience. HMCS has also improved witness waiting times, achieved its best ever timeliness performance and successfully reduced the number of pre-trial mention hearings in the Crown Court.
 
The report highlights new HMCS case management procedures for care & supervision cases.  The Public Law Outline promotes better co-operation between all parties involved, reduces unnecessary delay and makes the process less distressing for children & their families.
Press release ~ HMCS Annual Report and Accounts 2008/09 ~ Public Law Outline
 
IS: The Insolvency Service has published its report on the first 6 months operation of ‘Statement of Insolvency Practice 16 (SIP 16)’. The report looks at insolvency practitioners’ compliance with the SIP and whether the increased use of pre-packs has resulted in an increased incidence of directors’ misconduct, particularly in relation to the insolvent company’s debts being left unpaid whilst assets are sold on to a new company.  The Insolvency Service will report again in early 2010.
Press release ~ Report on the First Six Months Operation of Statement of Insolvency Practice 16 ~ Insolvency Service
 
MoD: The Ministry of Defence’s Annual Report & Accounts 2008/09 have been published by the Secretary of State for Defence, Bob Ainsworth, along with a press release ‘Understatement of the Year’ quote saying that; ‘It remains a very busy period for defence’. The continuing high operational tempo has meant that the Army and the RAF did not meet individual separate service or unit harmony guidelines and the Royal Navy breaching its guidelines by less than 1%.
Press release ~ MoD Annual Report and Accounts 2008/09
 
NAO/HMRC:   The economic downturn has been largely responsible for a £21.7bn reduction in taxes & duties collected by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in 2008-9, according to a National Audit Office report.
NAO press release ~ NAO:  HM Revenue and Customs 2008-09 Accounts: The Comptroller and Auditor General's Standard Report ~ HMRC response press release
 
NA: Michael Wills, Minister of State for Justice, has announced the publication of the UK Annual Report on the Re-use of Public Sector Information 2009. The Report tracks the progress that has been made in the UK since the UK implementation of the European Directive on the Re-use of Public Sector Information (PSI) in 2005.  Publication coincides with the European Commission's recent review of the implementation of the Directive.
Press release ~ UK Annual Report on the Re-use of Public Sector Information 2009 ~ European Directive on the Re-use of Public Sector Information (PSI) ~ EU Directive review
 
Ofgem: Energy regulator Ofgem (Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets) has highlighted progress in a series of major projects that will benefit energy consumers in the immediate term and in the future.  In its annual report for 2008-09 Ofgem has outlined its achievements as well as other gains in prospect.
 
In Project Discovery the regulator is looking ahead over the next decade at the prospects for security of supply in Britain, with the independent & impartial analysis that it is uniquely positioned to deliver.
Press release ~ Annual report 2008 - 09 ~ Ofgem - Project Discovery ~ Transmission Access review ~ Offshore Transmission regime ~ Fifth Electricity Distribution Price control review ~ Ofgem’s RPI-X@20 project ~ Consumer First programme ~ Industry Codes Governance Review
 
HO: Annual statistics on the use of animals in scientific research have been published by the Home Office  along with the Animal Scientific Procedures Inspectorate Annual Report 2008. The ‘Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals 2008’ is compiled from returns provided by project licence holders covering scientific procedures performed using living animals subject to the provisions of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.

For the first time this year the Home Office has published a joint ‘Animals (Scientific Procedures) Division (ASPD) and Inspectorate (ASPI) Annual Report 2008’. The report provides a collective account of many of the ‘behind-the-scenes’ activities of the Home Office staff who regulate this work.
Press release ~ Joint Animals (Scientific Procedures) Division (ASPD) and Inspectorate (ASPI) Annual Report 2008 ~ Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals 2008 ~ Abstracts of Project Licences ~ National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research ~ EU – Laboratory Animals ~ Consultation on protecting animals used in scientific research (closed)
 
NAO: The Comptroller and Auditor General, the head of the National Audit Office, has reported to Parliament that he has qualified his audit opinion on HM Treasury’s Resource Accounts for 2008-09.  This was because, in that year, HM Treasury incurred expenditure of some £24bn more than Parliament had authorized.
 
This arose because of the need to provide for expected net losses arising from the operation of the Asset Protection Scheme – under which HM Treasury provides banks with protection against future credit losses on certain assets in exchange for a fee. 
Press release ~ NAO: HM Treasury Resource Accounts 2008-09 ~ Asset Protection Scheme
 
NAO: The head of the National Audit Office, the Comptroller and Auditor General, has qualified the accounts of the Department for Work and Pensions for the 20th consecutive year.  The accounts have been qualified because of the material level of fraud & error in expenditure on state benefits, except for State Pension which has a low level of error and therefore this element of the accounts has not been qualified.  The total loss due to fraud & error is an estimated £2.7bn.
Press release ~ NAO: Department for Work and Pensions: Resource Accounts 2008-09
 
NAO: The National Audit Office has identified errors in specialist pay, allowances & expenses paid to the Armed Forces via their Payroll & Human Resources system, as well as the inadequacy of evidence to support certain fixed assets and stock balances in the financial statements.  For this reason, the Comptroller and Auditor General has qualified his audit opinion on the 2008-09 accounts of the Ministry of Defence.
Press release ~ NAO - 2008-09 Resource Accounts of the Ministry of Defence: Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General
 
ESRC: Social science research is essential to tackling UK & global security challenges, getting to grips with reforming the financial markets and helping households adapt to climate change.  This is the message from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as it publishes its Strategic Plan 2009-2014.

The Plan provides a road map for economic & social research over the next 5 years, with the aim of delivering a step-change in the impact of the social sciences.  Impact does not stop at the scientific; research directly & indirectly contributes to society and the economy by informing public debates, as well as policy and practice at an individual level through to organisations and nations.
Press release ~ ESRC Strategic Plan 2009-2014 ~ ESRC Society Today
 
RCPO: The Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office’s (RCPO’s) annual report indicates that its performance has continued to improve.  It achieved a conviction in 92% of the 1,121 cases it prosecuted in 2008/09 and it obtained 499 confiscation orders against criminals amounting to over £69m.  During the year, it collected almost £22m in confiscated criminal assets.
Press release ~ RCPO’s Annual Report and Resource Accounts 2008/09
 
NAO: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) met only 1 of its 3 targets to reach new audiences by increasing the number of people from under-represented groups who visit the historic environment by 2007-08.  DCMS did, however, meet its target to increase the number of people from BME groups visiting the historic environment, by delivering a 3.4% rise over the period 2005-06 to 2007-08. 
 
As the leader of the heritage sector and a custodian of historic sites, English Heritage was a key player in the DCMS strategy to increase the number of people from under-represented groups visiting the historic environment.  A National Audit Office report to Parliament has revealed that there was a weak link between DCMS’s policy objectives to broaden participation and the targets agreed with English Heritage
Press release ~ NAO: Promoting participation with the historic environment ~ DCMS ~ English Heritage
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