Recommendation 12

The external organisations that have reviewed the programme told the NAO that NS&I was sometimes or often slow to act, or did not act at all, on advice.29 We asked whether NS&I’s leadership had learned from the issues with the Programme. NS&I offered two lessons: it acknowledged that it had over-estimated the complexity of the Programme; but then claimed there was a positive lesson because it had continued to operate the organisation as a whole despite the delays.30 When asked if it regretted that more money 22 Q 21 23 Q 23 24 Qq 1-2 25 Q 6 26 Qq 7-8 27 Q 9 28 Qq 10-11 29 C&AG’s Report, para 19 30 Q 1 10 was being spent on the Programme instead of being available for improving public services, it could only reiterate how much funding NS&I had raised for government through its activities.31