Transcript No Slide Title

Overview of NAO work
relating to Jobcentre
Plus
Presentation to NAWRA
2 September 2005
Rebecca Sidell Dawson
Auditor - Welfare, Work & Education VFM
Our role
• To provide independent information,
assurance and advice to Parliament
on the use of public resources
across central government
• To help promote better financial
management and value for money
to bring about improvements in
public services
About the NAO
•
•
•
•
Headed by the C&AG
Independent of Government
800 staff
Save £8 for every £1 in running costs
(£515 million saved by our work in
2004-05)
• Key areas of work:
- Financial Audit
- Value for Money (VFM)
- Promoting good practice
• Public Accounts Committee
How we identify issues
for our VFM studies
• Balance – benefits/administration/client
groups
• Key risk areas
• Complement financial audit work
• Quality of service to the public
• Key departmental objectives – PSAs,
Welfare to Work
• Social exclusion
• External expectations and interests –
PAC etc
Recently published
reports 2003-05
• Managing attendance in the Department
for Work and Pensions
• Tackling the barriers to the employment
of older workers
• Helping those in hardship: the running
of the Social Fund
• Progress in improving the medical
assessment of incapacity and disability
benefits
• Getting it right, putting it right Improving decision-making and appeals
in social security benefits
Studies in progress
2005-06
• Helping people with disabilities into
work
• Communicating with the public:
ensuring accurate information
• Contact centres in DWP
• Dealing with the complexity of the
benefits system
Areas for potential
future studies
• Progress in tackling pensioner poverty
• Making the most of Personal Advisers in
Jobcentre Plus
• Child Support Agency
Concluding thoughts
• General observations from this year’s
work
• Consultation process
• Any questions? Ideas for future work?
Contact details:
Rebecca Sidell Dawson
Welfare Work & Education (A6)
157-197 Buckingham Palace Road
London SW1W 9SP
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 020 7798 7800
Website: www.nao.org.uk