Taxpayer value from government contracts
Challenges in ensuring taxpayers gain from government contracts, requiring improved market testing and transparency of KPIs.
Source spread
Where this theme appears
This theme appears across 15 independent accountability sources, so the source mix matters as much as the headline total.
8 inquiry recs
934 committee recs
1 HSSIB rec
1 ICIBI rec
1 PPO rec
37 NAO recs
69 IMB recs
2 DHR recs
5 PHSO decisions
88 LGO/SPSO decisions
3 CJINI reports
1 ISC report
Browse by source
Source-grouped records are useful for tracing where a concern came from. Large sections show the 50 strongest matches for that source; counts still show the full theme total.
Inquiry recommendations(8)
RHI-10 — External Consultants Guidance
Recommendation: The Northern Ireland Civil Service should consider what changes are needed to its guidance and practices on the use of external consultants arising from the experience of RHI. Specific recommendations include: (a) that better assessments are needed at the outset …
Gov response: These recommendations can be accepted in full. They have been addressed through work to date, including: • job-specific appointments within the NICS generalist grades; • the piloting of Cabinet Office’s “Commercial Skills Assessment and Development …
Accepted
COVID-M5.10 — Transparency, Governance and Accountability in Emergencies
Recommendation: The UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive should improve transparency, governance and accountability for procurement in an emergency. As a minimum, these improvements should include the following: Enhancing transparency Any central digital platform used for procurement …
Gov response: No formal government response published. The Northern Ireland Executive had not published a response to the Module 5 report of 14 July 2026 when the Executive Office's publications list was checked on 25 September 2026.
No response yet
COVID-M5.9 — Commercial Framework for Emergency Procurement
Recommendation: The UK government and devolved administrations should collaborate to establish a UK-wide commercial framework agreement of pre-approved external specialists in the emergency procurement and distribution of healthcare equipment. The framework should be refreshed every three years.
Gov response: No formal government response published. The Northern Ireland Executive had not published a response to the Module 5 report of 14 July 2026 when the Executive Office's publications list was checked on 25 September 2026.
No response yet
RHI-31 — Value for Money Priority
Recommendation: 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 …
Gov response: These recommendations can be accepted in full. It is important to note that public expenditure in NI is governed by the UK Budgeting rules set by HM Treasury. These rules mean that there is limited …
Accepted
RHI-16 — Third Party Governance
Recommendation: Where other government bodies, such as Ofgem, or contractors or other third parties are involved in the implementation of a project, the 'home' Department must retain overall control and overall project management. The governance arrangement between the Northern Ireland Department …
Gov response: These recommendations can be accepted in full. They have been addressed in work to date through: • strengthening of policy and guidance relating to project delivery; • work to establish the new NICS Project Delivery …
Accepted
HIA-12 — Financial Contributions from Institutions
Recommendation: We recommend that any voluntary institution found by the Inquiry to have been guilty of systemic failings should be asked to make an appropriate financial contribution to the overall cost of the HIA Redress Board and any specialist support services …
Gov response: No formal government response published. The Inquiry reported on 20 January 2017, the month the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed; the report The Executive Office and the Northern Ireland Office laid before Parliament in September 2019 …
Unknown
HIA-5 — Publicly Funded Compensation Scheme
Recommendation: We recommend that the Northern Ireland Executive create a publicly funded compensation scheme.
Gov response: No formal government response published. The Inquiry reported on 20 January 2017, the month the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed; the report The Executive Office and the Northern Ireland Office laid before Parliament in September 2019 …
Unknown
WATE-(43) — Disclose financial information of private children's homes and residential schools to regulators
Recommendation: The accounts and other relevant financial information relating to private children's homes and private residential schools approved generally for SEN children or receiving SEN children with the consent of the Secretary of State should be disclosed to the relevant regulatory …
Unknown
Select committee recommendations(934)— showing 50 strongest matches
#23 —
Recommendation: As part of a review of homecare medicines services, the Government should work with procurement specialists, the National Audit Office, and the Competition and Markets Authority to identify barriers to competition and effective procurement in the homecare medicines market. They …
Response attribution not verified
#22 —
Recommendation: There is a clear perception of a lack of robust competition in the homecare medicines market, in part caused by geographic variation of service levels, barriers to entering the market and poor procurement practices.
Response attribution not verified
#18 —
Recommendation: The review must outline necessary steps towards establishing a central resource of experienced procurement professionals to assist in establishing homecare medicines services. This must be available to all those establishing agreements, whether they are manufacturer- or NHS-funded. (Paragraph 75) Regulators
Response attribution not verified
#17 —
Recommendation: Given the substantial public cost of homecare medicines, improving procurement processes should be an urgent priority. In their current form, neither the National Homecare Medicines Committee nor regional procurement hubs are equipped to lead the change required.
Response attribution not verified
#15 —
Recommendation: The Government must clarify exactly how much public money is spent on homecare medicines services.
Response attribution not verified
#14 —
Recommendation: The Government does not know how much money is spent on homecare medicines services. It is therefore impossible to make any assessment on value for money. Given that the figure is most likely several billion pounds per year, this lack …
Response attribution not verified
#195 —
Recommendation: The Ministry of Justice should seize the upcoming wave of commissioning as an opportunity to apply lessons from the past two years. More funding should be allocated, especially to womenâs centres and for housing. Contracts should be longer to protect …
Response attribution not verified
#189 —
Recommendation: Two of the delivery partners also sought a different funding approach, âbased on outcomes rather than the number of needs, sessions and RAR daysâ. 364 They explained that, currently, when someone is referred to an organisation to complete RAR days, …
Response attribution not verified
#188 —
Recommendation: The National Audit Office told us that âthe Ministry let contracts worth £46 million for services âtailored to female offendersââ through its 2021 commissioning process (see sections on âthe 2021 commissioning processâ starting at paragraph 169 and on âmainstreaming wraparound …
Response attribution not verified
#16 —
Recommendation: We are concerned about the abuse of R&D relief, which has increased due to exploitation of the tax repayment available under the SME scheme. We note the Government’s commitment to tackling this abuse but we agree with our witnesses that …
Response attribution not verified
#11 —
Recommendation: The Department had spent £15 million on advisers by January 2026. It said it had benefited from the expert legal and technical advice and had used advisers to fill capability gaps in British Steel. While the main funding was classed …
#7 —
Recommendation: The Government must ensure that its initiatives aimed at enabling technology companies to grow make a material improvement to the UK’s innovation ecosystem, as well as providing value for money for the taxpayer. Schemes that are duplicative, or fail to …
Response attribution not verified
#9 —
Recommendation: The Defence Office for Small Business Growth should publish specific targets for the uplift it expects to deliver in MOD funding for Scottish SMEs, and the measurable outcomes it will use to assess progress in improving access to defence supply …
#7 —
Recommendation: The MOD should incentivise prime contractors to take a more active role in supporting Scottish SMEs. Procurement processes should take into account the extent to which prime contractors help SMEs overcome barriers to participating in the defence sector, with a …
#5 —
Recommendation: Only 0.078% of the MOD’s direct expenditure is with SMEs in Scotland. This is substantially lower than Scotland’s population share and is at odds with the scale and importance of Scotland’s defence manufacturing base. (Conclusion, Paragraph 43)
#4 —
Recommendation: The MOD must begin publishing data on defence expenditure with individual suppliers in Scotland to enable better and evidence-based procurement and policy decisions going forward. (Recommendation, Paragraph 31) 39 Unlocking SME potential
#20 —
Recommendation: The government should encourage the growth of specialist funds with deep sectoral expertise, including by supporting team development, attracting international talent, and enabling experienced technical leaders to transition into investment roles. The government should use its own procurement more strategically …
Response status not verified
#39 —
Recommendation: Taxpayers are entitled to expect public money to be used carefully and responsibly. (Conclusion, Paragraph 210)
Response attribution not verified
#14 —
Recommendation: The Department is a key customer for the defence industry, and it currently spends 85% of its budget in the UK, a proportion that it hopes to maintain or expand as defence spending increases. It said that this amount of …
Response status not verified
#17 —
Recommendation: We recommend that the Government use the Procurement Act 2023 to trigger a transformation of culture across Government in supporting UK business in general and High Growth Firms in particular. This is particularly important for the Ministry of Defence and …
Response status not verified
#31 —
Recommendation: We questioned the Home Office specifically on how it would use excess profit clauses within its cost-plus hotel contracts. The Home Office accepted that “in general”, cost-plus contracts do not represent good value for the taxpayer and acknowledged the risk …
Response status not verified
#30 —
Recommendation: We also asked the Home Office about its approach to commercial incentives. The NAO had reported gaps in current contract performance information and the Home Affairs Committee found that providers faced few performance penalties and, in some cases, had incentives …
Response status not verified
#29 —
Recommendation: The Home Office set out actions it is taking to strengthen its commercial capability and contract-management arrangements. It confirmed it was “considering the options available” for exercising break clauses and renegotiating contracts, and stated that it had “clawed back £46 …
Response status not verified
#28 —
Recommendation: The NAO, Public Accounts Committee and Home Affairs Select Committee have each identified longstanding weaknesses in how the Home Office manages its asylum accommodation contracts. The NAO’s May 2025 briefing found that projected spending under the asylum accommodation and support …
Response status not verified
#6 —
Recommendation: The Home Office has not demonstrated it has the commercial capabilities needed to manage asylum accommodation effectively. Managing asylum accommodation at scale requires strong in-house commercial expertise to oversee complex contracts, manage risks, and monitor provider performance. However, both the …
Response attribution not verified
#54 —
Recommendation: If external suppliers are deemed necessary to support the development or implementation of the new digital ID, no contracts relating to the development or implementation of the new digital ID should be awarded without a competitive tender process, and all …
Response status not verified
#45 —
Recommendation: The government should use its promised update to the Procurement Act 2023 to require public sector bodies to prioritise open-source tools and technology over proprietary offerings, to support innovative alternatives to incumbent suppliers and reduce the risk of vendor lock-in. …
Response status not verified
#44 —
Recommendation: Building sovereign alternatives to US tech providers will require targeted support for start-ups in strategic sectors; a robust approach to competition policy that does not shy away from confrontation with incumbent firms but instead supports the development of a diverse …
Response status not verified
#39 —
Recommendation: In its response to this report the government should detail how the ‘All of Government’ cloud contract will prevent vendor lock-in. It should set out the engagement it has had with the Competition and Markets Authority on the development of …
Response status not verified
#37 —
Recommendation: The promised cloud consumption dashboard should include not only a breakdown of contract awards by company but their value, details of any break clauses, specific licensing terms and a value for money assessment. The government should require public bodies to …
Response status not verified
#36 —
Recommendation: The public sector’s dependence on AWS and Microsoft’s cloud products undermines fair competition, fails to deliver value for money, can prevent domestic alternatives from scaling and—when outages occur—exposes a lack of resilience. The government is rightly seeking to coordinate cloud …
Response status not verified
#34 —
Recommendation: We believe that vendor lock-in should not be viewed as inevitable, and that dependence on a small number of suppliers does not automatically lead to better delivery of public services or better use of public money. (Conclusion, Paragraph 106)
Response status not verified
#33 —
Recommendation: The best way for government to encourage innovation is by procuring it. The government should therefore require central departments and public bodies to spend a defined minimum percentage of their technology procurement budgets on products offered by UK-based and UK-owned …
Response status not verified
#32 —
Recommendation: In its response to this report the government should set out the reasons for awarding a £240 million Ministry of Defence contract to Palantir without a competitive tender process. (Recommendation, Paragraph 98)
Response status not verified
#31 —
Recommendation: The government should commit to wherever possible using UK-owned and UK-based suppliers to develop and implement the NHS Single Patient Record, and to awarding all associated contracts via open and transparent procurement processes. (Recommendation, Paragraph 97)
Response status not verified
#26 —
Recommendation: In its response to this report the government should set out how it intends to ensure that the public sector makes better use of the services provided by Crown Hosting. (Recommendation, Paragraph 81) Barrier three: Vendor lock-in
Response status not verified
#5 —
Recommendation: The new Government Digital Service (GDS) should develop and publish a comprehensive framework to evaluate the performance of digital spend, to include a set of metrics against which leaders of departments and public bodies can be held to account. The …
Response status not verified
#4 —
Recommendation: By the end of the current Spending Review period a meaningfully higher percentage of digital and technology spend should come from departmental resource budgets, as opposed to capital budgets, in order to better reflect the reality of modern public service …
Response status not verified
#3 —
Recommendation: Delivering successful digital transformation will require a new approach to digital and technology spend, underpinned by clear standards, approval processes, and lines of accountability. The current approach to funding, whereby it is easier to secure capital funding than resource, public …
Response status not verified
#16 —
Recommendation: One of the consequences of the Ministry not understanding its assets prior to letting the contracts was that demand for reactive maintenance work as a result of poor-quality assets or vandalism cost the taxpayer almost £143 million more than expected …
Response attribution not verified
#15 —
Recommendation: Following Carillion’s collapse in January 2018, the Ministry established Gov Facility Services Limited (GFSL), a not-for-profit government company, to assume responsibility for its work.29 The Ministry told us that its contract with Carillion was “a mess” and badly managed.30 It …
Response attribution not verified
#3 —
Recommendation: In 2015, the Ministry failed to protect taxpayers’ interests through its naïve approach to the outsourcing of facilities management services. The Ministry admits that its approach prioritised delivering at speed and achieving predicted £79 million in cost savings at the …
Response attribution not verified
#14 —
Recommendation: Whilst we have called for the 50:50 split to be replaced with a more appropriate arrangement moving forward, we believe pensioners should also receive a more immediate uplift. We recommend that the Government hands the £1.2bn it is due to …
Response attribution not verified
#9 —
Recommendation: In its evidence to us, TaxWatch said the legacy of the employment support schemes risks being damaged if more is not done to recover the billions of pounds stolen from them.20 The Association of Accounting Technicians submitted evidence to us …
Response attribution not verified
#6 —
Recommendation: The Department did not do enough work to determine whether Randox was making excess profits from its contracts with Randox. Randox’s published accounts do not yet cover the entire period of the contracts we considered, but they already show how …
Response attribution not verified
#26 —
Recommendation: The MOD should set out how it evaluates social value in competitions, how it measures the delivery of social value in the contracts it negotiates, and how it holds contractors accountable to ensure they meet those targets. It should also, …
Response attribution not verified
#5 —
Recommendation: We are concerned that in the absence of effective criminal and civil sanctions there is little incentive for those who overclaimed COVID-19 employment support to make repayments. Despite the billions of pounds lost in error and fraud, HMRC has taken …
Response attribution not verified
#4 —
Recommendation: HMRC’s decision to close the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce in 2023–24 puts at risk the recovery of taxpayers’ money paid out as a result of error and fraud. In April 2021, HMRC set up the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce as a dedicated …
Response attribution not verified
#3 —
Recommendation: HMRC’s performance in recovering the £2.3 billion incorrectly paid to employers claiming furlough for employees who continued to work has been woeful. When it introduced CJRS in spring 2020, HMRC recognised that there was a high risk that employers would …
Response attribution not verified
#21 — Home Office exits leave hotels in derelict conditions, burdening local communities with regeneration costs.
Recommendation: 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 …
Response attribution not verified
HSSIB safety recommendations(1)
ICIBI immigration recommendations(1)
PPO death in custody recommendations(1)
NAO audit recommendations(37)
Lessons learned: competition in public procurement
Expand its guidance on frameworks, alongside working to ensure that where frameworks are used it is for compatible requirements and uses competitive pressure.
Accepted
Lessons learned: competition in public procurement
Consider how to make improvements in the supporting elements of the commercial lifecycle as set out in Figure 6 (capability, commercial strategy, governance and accountability, and transparency and data) to support improvements in the effectiveness of competition.
Accepted
Lessons learned: competition in public procurement
Work with departments to understand the barriers to early market engagement and take steps to address them.
Accepted
Lessons learned: competition in public procurement
Set out how it currently uses the information and explore how it can the use the range of data collected on individual contracts to analyse competitive trends in markets and use this to support its work.
Accepted
Lessons learned: competition in public procurement
Through its procurement reform processes, act to improve the quality of information departments submit on contracts, as well as continuing to improve compliance with transparency requirements.
Accepted
Lessons learned: competition in public procurement
Building on work it has begun to update its contract database systems and standards, clearly define the information departments are required to publish, including how it should be structured
Accepted
The government’s approach to test and trace in England – interim report
f) take account to the maximum extent possible of value for money and normal commercial good practice as it procures new infrastructure and services. In particular, it needs to have sufficient flexibility in future contracts to allow government and contractors …
Partially accepted
Investigation into government procurement during the COVID-19 pandemic
The Cabinet Office should review whether requirements for disclosure and management of relevant interests are sufficient in cases where public office-holders hold cross-government responsibilities for awarding contracts or procurement. For such cases, the Cabinet Office should take steps to enable …
Accepted
Investigation into government procurement during the COVID-19 pandemic
When procuring directly from suppliers, awarding bodies need to provide clear documentation on how they have considered and managed potential conflicts of interest or bias in the procurement process. Before awarding contracts, awarding bodies should document due diligence checks carried …
Accepted
Investigation into government procurement during the COVID-19 pandemic
Awarding bodies should provide clear documentation for establishing and using procedures that may result in unequal treatment of suppliers. While segmenting suppliers based on strength of evidence to deliver can be beneficial in speeding up the procurement process, awarding bodies …
Accepted
Investigation into government procurement during the COVID-19 pandemic
The Cabinet Office should issue further guidance on specific procurement risks arising from greater use of regulation 32(2)(c). The guidance should build on the lessons government has learned from the use of this regulation during the pandemic to date and …
Accepted
Investigation into government procurement during the COVID-19 pandemic
Awarding bodies should publish basic information on contracts in a reasonable time, in line with guidance to publish within 90 days of award. Transparency is one of the key controls to mitigate the risks associated with emergency direct awards. Therefore, …
Accepted
Employment support: The Kickstart Scheme
m) establishing (and on a proportionate basis using) rights to recover funding if employers provide inadequate employment support.
Accepted
Employment support: The Kickstart Scheme
i) setting out the logical steps and criteria of jobs most likely to create additional economic output (for instance, the organisation is not hiring for similar unsubsidised jobs) and monitoring as many of those criteria as possible while the programme …
Partially accepted
Employment support: The Kickstart Scheme
To help ensure that the jobs created additional economic output, the Department should monitor indicators that a job is additional where it can, by: h) conducting routine monitoring and inspection of employers to establish whether organisations participating in Kickstart fulfil …
Accepted
Financial sustainability of schools in England
d) Develop further their performance management systems so they can effectively monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of their programmes to support schools’ financial sustainability. In doing this, the Department and the ESFA should: • consistently collect good-quality data about the …
Accepted
Financial sustainability of schools in England
c) Investigate why some academy trusts have built up substantial reserves. The ESFA should use that information to develop its understanding of why trusts are acting in this way, seek assurance that levels of reserves are acceptable, and take action …
Accepted
Managing tax debt through the pandemic
l) Signal in its external communications that it will take a tough approach with companies that deliberately misuse insolvency rules. It has new powers to attach debts to the owners of companies that go bankrupt. As the UK emerges from …
Accepted
Managing tax debt through the pandemic
k) Adopt good practices from the private sector and from its own handling of debt during the pandemic on a permanent basis. In particular, a clear focus on affordability rather than repayment within a year could help customers maintain payments …
Accepted
Managing tax debt through the pandemic
j) Develop its understanding of the effectiveness of the different tools and interventions that it already uses and how they interact. Process mapping and data mining techniques can help it better plan a long-term strategy for reducing debt, allocate resources …
Accepted
Managing tax debt through the pandemic
HMRC is restricted in its ability to increase capacity in the short term. In the long term, it should look to build on its existing plans to develop the tools and powers to better manage the range of taxpayers’ needs …
Partially accepted
Managing tax debt through the pandemic
h) Estimate how the scale of demand from specific pressures, such as new customers, vulnerable customers and companies becoming insolvent, may change, using proxy data sources where necessary. HMRC can then identify pressure points and adapt operational processes where needed, …
Accepted
Managing tax debt through the pandemic
g) Extend its segmentation analysis by considering the scale of debt against income, and the sectors in which businesses operate, to be able to identify taxpayers who have done well during the pandemic. Successful applications for grant claims and loans …
Partially accepted
Managing tax debt through the pandemic
HMRC needs to improve its understanding of customers to be able to support them and target activity appropriately. HMRC should do the following: f) Use a wider range of data to better understand how taxpayers’ financial positions have changed as …
Accepted
Managing tax debt through the pandemic
e) Identify how debt management needs to operate differently to deal with the changed nature and amount of debt. HMRC now has more old debt, and much of the pandemic debt will be difficult to collect quickly. Older debt becomes …
Accepted
Managing tax debt through the pandemic
d) Target much greater levels of return than before the pandemic. Given that taxpayers’ average levels of debt are much higher than before the pandemic, HMRC should aim for a significant increase in the total return from new and existing …
Accepted
Managing tax debt through the pandemic
c) Model the potential scale of work needed to manage debt effectively for different post-pandemic scenarios, in terms of speed and ease of debt collection. Assess whether HMRC has sufficient capacity to meet these scenarios.
Accepted
Managing tax debt through the pandemic
HMRC faces a large increase in debt and the number of taxpayers in debt. Taxpayers are taking more time to pay off debts, which may mean more contact points with HMRC and different rates of escalation. To manage this workload …
Accepted
Managing tax debt through the pandemic
HMRC should work with the rest of government, and, in particular, HM Treasury and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy to: a) develop and communicate a strategy that sets out how recovering debt should change in light of …
Accepted
The UK border: Post UK-EU transition period
In the immediate term, the government and departments should focus on the following areas: • Use the additional time from its revised timetable for introducing import controls to: address current risks, particularly relating to infrastructure and trader and haulier readiness; …
Accepted
Improving the performance of major equipment contracts
c) The Department should be prepared to penalise suppliers for past poor performance when letting new contracts. While the Department is doing more to improve working relationships with suppliers, there remains the challenge of what to do if suppliers fail …
Accepted
Implementing employment support schemes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
f) review how to organise HMRC’s compliance response to ensure that sufficient resources are committed to recover overpayments and fraudulent payments on both schemes where it is cost-effective to do so.
Accepted
Implementing employment support schemes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
d) more quickly assess the total value of error and fraud; and explore the feasibility of commencing assessment activity earlier for future schemes so that some testing is undertaken while schemes are live;
Partially accepted
Implementing employment support schemes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
c) increase the emphasis on using preventative controls for tackling fraud and error in the new schemes. Where appropriate for future schemes, carry out more direct work with employees to ensure employers treat them according to scheme rules, and increase …
Accepted
Progress with delivering the Emergency Services Network
ensures that the new network infrastructure contract has sufficient mechanisms and incentives to establish effective relationships and ensure value for money within this contract period, while supporting a wider strategy for how the Home Office will avoid being locked into …
Accepted
Whole of Government Accounts 2017-18
As recommended previously, the Treasury should examine how it can: • provide more granular information on government spending, particularly around the purchase of goods and services • explain the sensitivity of the value of significant assets to changes in assumptions …
Accepted
HS2: update following cancellation of Phase 2
In disposing of the land and property it no longer needs for the programme, DfT should be transparent about its value-for-money framework and how it has been implemented. DfT should also, as part of developing its framework, identify appropriate opportunities …
Accepted
IMB individual recommendations(69)— showing 50 strongest matches
Brinsford (2023)
The New heating system has many flaws, caused by an inadequate contract between suppliers & fitters and the MOJ. It has cost further thousands of pounds onto the original cost, all paid for by the public purse.
HMPPS
Aylesbury (2022)
Set tough targets, and appropriate penalties, in third party contracts for education, training and vocational skills delivery. Maintain business-like contract management to optimise delivery.
HMPPS
Implemented
Swansea (2023)
One major concern in the period covered by this report was the effectiveness of Amey Projects in providing an efficient service to the Prison. We are concerned that they have not been held properly accountable for their poor service and recommend that their appointment be reassessed and proper value for money achieved.
HMPPS
Noted
Buckley Hall (2024)
The contracts given to outside agencies, such as the maintenance contract given to AMEY, often do not provide the level of service which anyone would find acceptable. They are slow to progress, expensive, often do not cover the required repairs and the quality of the work is not always good. Is it not possible to look more closely at what …
HMPPS
In Progress
Buckley Hall (2025)
The Minister should review the maintenance contract with Amey, which the Board views as expensive and ineffective, and which hampers staff from carrying out necessary work such as updating the television signal and repairing laundry facilities and toilets.
Ministry of Justice
In Progress
Bristol (2025)
Are there plans to review the lengths of contract given to prison food providers that would allow for more flexibility in securing best value and quality, and thereby better use of the public purse?
HMPPS
In Progress
Eastwood Park (2020)
Is it considered to be best value for Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) to fund the manufacture of urgently needed replacement windows and fire doors by prison industries in 2018 and 2020, respectively, and then deliver and take them into store at Leyhill and Eastwood Park prisons, only subsequently to decline funding to install them?
HMPPS
Noted
Whitemoor (2021)
Will the prison service please review its approach to securing value for money in contracts for building works? Yet again a refurbishment project (this time of the main kitchen at Whitemoor) has been delayed by sub-contractors passing work from company to company until the job reached a firm whose staff did not have the necessary security clearance; the cladding appears …
HMPPS
In Progress
Swinfen Hall (2021)
How is the effectiveness of the current contract being evaluated?
HMPPS
In Progress
Holme House (2021)
We would also like to comment on the cumbersome content and lack of clarity around some contracts with external service providers. The Board must monitor against standards and understanding the content of contracts is critical to this.
HMPPS
Highpoint (2021)
The service provided by GFSL is still a major cause for concern. The Board requests an urgent review of the works maintenance contract to ensure it fully meets the ongoing needs of a challenging prison environment.
HMPPS
Elmley (2021)
The contract with DHL needs to be reviewed and reinforced to ensure that the company abides by their contractual obligations (see section 5.1 paragraph 6).
HMPPS
In Progress
Aylesbury (2021)
Set high-quality targets, and appropriate penalties, in third-party contracts for education, training and vocational skill delivery. Maintain business-like contract management to ensure proper delivery.
HMPPS
Implemented
North Sea Camp (2022)
The IMB is concerned by the time taken to complete routine maintenance jobs, and the issues around the transfer of prisoners’ property. These are issues that are provided by contracted out services and the Board is concerned that contract failures do not result in penalties to encourage compliance.
HMPPS
Pentonville (2023)
When will action be taken to review the performance by GFSL of its contractual obligations? Its continued poor performance means that conditions for prisoners are neither decent nor humane, and are becoming increasingly less so every year.
HMPPS
Long Lartin (2023)
Amey performance. The 2022 annual report cited repeated serious failings in the performance of Amey. The Prison Service responded that ‘the contract is managed and monitored through a range of metrics and escalation processes’. The Board has found no evidence to support this claim. How will the Prison Service ensure that Amey provides a satisfactory maintenance service?
HMPPS
In Progress
Portland (2024)
What steps is HMPPS taking to address the poor service provided by external suppliers, with particular attention on the quality of service provided by Serco with regard to the transport of prisoners?
HMPPS
In Progress
Cookham Wood (2024)
Will the Minister examine the costs incurred by the YCS and the wider HMPPS in this project (not least the penalties incurred in terminating contracts early, such as will have been the case with Novus, the education provider)?
Other
Implemented
Portland (2025)
HMPPS should take steps to address the poor service provided by external suppliers, with particular attention on the quality of service provided by Serco with regard to the transport of prisoners.
HMPPS
In Progress
Brinsford (2023)
When will the Ministry of Justice write adequate contracts that at least favour the prison and not the contractors?
Ministry of Justice
Downview (2021)
At Downview, operational information regarding the PACT contract was not provided (being retained at HMPPS level or otherwise remotely) which limits the ability of the establishment to performance manage operation of the contract effectively. Given the forthcoming procurement exercise regarding family engagement (albeit delayed due to Covid-19), will measures be taken to incorporate robust contract management processes?
HMPPS
Noted
Long Lartin (2022)
Will the Prison Service play an active role in the management and monitoring of this contract to ensure that there is a marked improvement in the performance of Amey?
HMPPS
Thameside (2023)
The Board remains concerned regarding the management of the education contract and that the ‘wider review of education contracts’ in private prisons has failed to drive the improvement promised, despite the education provider having severely underperformed.
HMPPS
In Progress
Standford Hill (2023)
Is the Prison Service satisfied with the performance of GFSL?
HMPPS
Portland (2023)
Monitoring of service provided by external contractors
HMPPS
Holme House (2023)
Why is the Prison Service tied into a contract to purchase food from a company that has shortages, is inflexible and provides poor-quality items on occasion? When will this contract be up for re-tender?
HMPPS
In Progress
Aylesbury (2023)
Actively monitor and hold accountable third-party contractors to ensure value for money and the best service delivery for Aylesbury, particularly in relation to health and education contracts which are so vital to positive outcomes.
Governor / Director
Winchester (2024)
What can be done to further hold to account Practice Plus Group's activities for the purposes of monitoring delivery of healthcare services under terms of contract and PSO1700?
HMPPS
In Progress
Risley (2024)
What actions are being taken to improve the management and efficiency of AMEY contracts?
Ministry of Justice
In Progress
Aylesbury (2024)
Improve the structuring and supervision of third-party contracts so they can be more successfully managed at the point of delivery. In turn, this should raise the quality of services delivered to prisoners, in particular in health, education and vocational training, whilst bearing down on cost.
Ministry of Justice
Implemented
Wandsworth (2025)
Support to prisoners from service providers has been adversely affected by delays in tendering and length and quality of contracts. What is being done to rectify this serious issue?
HMPPS
In Progress
Bedford (2025)
What action will HMPPS take to ensure that the healthcare contract is properly managed?
HMPPS
In Progress
Bullingdon (2025)
How will the Prison Service resolve these matters with the outsourced providers?
HMPPS
In Progress
Brinsford (2025)
From the Board’s continued observations, the education contract is still not fit for purpose. It has always proved very difficult to hold the provider to account and to ensure that the prison gets good education provision. Not enough is being done to motivate or encourage prisoners to attend regularly or consistently. When will a review be commissioned to look at …
HMPPS
In Progress
Brinsford (2023)
The contract for the supply and fitting of the new boilers throughout the prison was wholly inadequate. This contract failed to cover the flushing out of the old pipes and failed to fit individual thermostats to units, all adding further costs to the original price. And all at a cost to the public.
Ministry of Justice
Lancaster Farms (2022)
To address shortcomings in the contracts for resettlement activity, canteen provision and education/training.
HMPPS
In Progress
Wandsworth (2020)
Although some improvements have been made, should the relationship with DHL, the provider of canteen products for prisoners, be reviewed, based on the poor performance experienced this year?
HMPPS
Implemented
Leicester (2020)
Last year the Board reported the problems with Amey Facilities Management, and the minister’s response acknowledged the problems and indicated that changes had been made to the company’s management structure and resourcing and that there would be a positive approach to the first-time fix of reactive repairs. Planned changes in the commercial department would produce an improvement in receiving estimates …
Ministry of Justice
In Progress
Highpoint (2020)
The service provided by Gov Facility Services Limited (GFSL) is still a major cause for concern. The Board requests an urgent review of the works maintenance contract to ensure it fully meets the ongoing needs of a challenging prison environment. Failure to do so seriously impacts on outcomes for the prisoners. (See 5.1.3)
HMPPS
In Progress
Garth (2020)
The quality of the service provided by Amey needs to improve quickly and to become effective.
Other
Full Sutton (2020)
Re-examine, with the service provider, the cost of telephone calls made by prisoners to mobile phones, with a view to reducing this.
HMPPS
In Progress
Featherstone (2020)
The performance of the education provider has been consistently poor and fallen short of the required outcomes, with no significant penalties being operated. How can the Prison Service take a more proactive role in both the negotiation and monitoring of the contract process, to ensure that public funds are well spent to achieve the agreed outcomes?
HMPPS
Channings Wood (2020)
How do you intend to bring down the exorbitant cost of often quite mundane repairs and improvements? And why is more use of the prisoners’ skills not tapped into, if only for basic jobs?
HMPPS
Winchester (2021)
Any necessary improvements that require central budgeting approval take far too long to get through the process. What is the prison service’s plan to deal with the long-standing surveillance issues which the IMB will identify in a separate letter, and the continuing problem of the defective vehicle entrance barrier? (See section 4.7).
HMPPS
In Progress
Wayland (2021)
The Board requests that if healthcare contractors’ contracts do not include a requirement to permit the Board’s sight of contract documents, excluding only financial and patient confidentiality issues, they are revised to do so (see section 6.1).
HMPPS
Accepted
The Mount (2021)
The Prison Service needs to review what lessons can be learned when evaluating tenders and planning for changes in healthcare providers.
HMPPS
Implemented
Stafford (2021)
Due to the failure of HMPPS over recent years to address the issue, will the Minister ensure that the pay inequalities between what residents can earn within a private prison versus a state run prison are removed?
Ministry of Justice
Rejected
Gartree (2021)
The Board requests that the Prison Service confirm the structure within the service that ensures that the contracts performance is being achieved in accordance with the signed contract.
HMPPS
Garth (2021)
The Board’s strong recommendation is that the contract with Amey should be investigated and reviewed as poor maintenance of the prison is impacting negatively on all aspects of life at Garth prison for both prisoners and staff.
Ministry of Justice
In Progress
Featherstone (2021)
This year again saw the transfer of another major contract (pharmacy) which caused significant issues in the supply of adequate services to prisoners. This follows on from the previous transfer of contracts, e.g. education and maintenance, which initially resulted in substandard provision for prisoners. In the light of these initial failures, the procurement process must be questioned.
HMPPS
Implemented
Health investigations(18)
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust Rapid Review: Published November 2021 — Rec 2.5.6.1
To review all acting up payments in the R&I Division to ensure that they have the necessary approvals.
Christie NHS Foundation Trust
north_west
An independent review into the independent sector provider One to … — Rec 4
Commissioners should use their audit powers under contracts with all providers to investigate any significant concerns about billing arrangements.
north_west
An independent review into the independent sector provider One to … — Rec 3
Commissioners should consider direct award approaches for services where there is only one provider expressing serious interest, where this flexibility is permitted by procurement policies, to minimise procurement costs.
north_west
An independent review into the independent sector provider One to … — Rec 2
Robust testing of tariff arrangements should be undertaken to understand the impact on commissioners and providers where joint working with the independent sector is proposed and different tariffs may need to be applied.
north_west
An independent review into the independent sector provider One to … — Rec 2
Commissioners and independent sector providers should work in an ‘open book’ way, particularly for start-up businesses offering new services, to ensure a full understanding of the cost base and allow scrutiny of the assumptions underpinning business plans.
north_west
An independent review into the independent sector provider One to … — Rec 1
Relatively small independent sector providers, particularly start-up businesses working exclusively in the NHS, should work transparently on their business plans with commissioners so that the commercial challenges are understood by all parties.
north_west
An independent review into the independent sector provider One to … — Rec 1
In the absence of national developments on tariffs for community-based models of care, local bespoke tariffs should be applied, based on a robust assessment of the cost base of providers.
north_west
An independent review into the independent sector provider One to … — Rec 1
Comprehensive due diligence should be undertaken with the appropriate commercial expertise before decisions to award and extend contracts.
north_west
An independent review into the independent sector provider One to … — Rec 4
Commissioners should consider applying a tailored approach to oversight of small contracts to avoid a disproportionate bureaucratic burden and level of cost to providers of the resources and the systems required for performance reporting and quality assurance.
north_west
An independent review into the independent sector provider One to … — Rec 4
Steps should be taken to ensure new providers to the NHS understand the technical requirements of contracts. Formal confirmation that they are set up to comply with requirements should be sought as part of pre-contract conditions.
north_west
An independent review into the independent sector provider One to … — Rec 4
A tailored approach to due diligence should be applied to small private sector providers who have a limited track record of working within the NHS. This should be undertaken on an ‘open book’ basis and include review of policies and procedures as well as financial forecasts and assumptions.
north_west
An independent review into the independent sector provider One to … — Rec 4
Governance of maternity services including - due diligence, contract award and management, finance, quality and operational oversight - involving smaller providers, especially from the independent and voluntary sectors, must be improved at a system and local level. This must be proportionate and must include involvement of the provider in Local …
north_west
An independent review into the independent sector provider One to … — Rec 3
Notwithstanding formal structural accountabilities and responsibilities, commissioners and NHSE/I (and their successor body) need to maintain oversight of material issues relating to tariff, which might impact on the stability of their local systems and create risk to the safety and quality of services.
north_west
An independent review into the independent sector provider One to … — Rec 3
Commissioners should produce a business case for assurance and decision-making purposes for innovative and potentially high-risk service developments. This needs to be completely independent of proposals from providers offering their services and include a thorough evaluation of the market.
north_west
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust Rapid Review: Published November 2021 — Rec 2.4.6.5
The Trust’s Audit Committee may wish to commission a study of the procurement processes in relation to the relationship with Roche and corporate partners in order that the Trust can develop SOPs for future ventures.
Christie NHS Foundation Trust
north_west
An independent review into the independent sector provider One to … — Rec 5
As part of due diligence, commissioners should evaluate the extent of support that might be required by start-up businesses to understand the broad-ranging compliance requirements of the NHS regulatory and contractual infrastructure.
north_west
An independent review into the independent sector provider One to … — Rec 2
Where financial challenges are identified during the quality surveillance and Risk Summit processes, consideration should be given to appropriate financial representation in the meetings; this is important as safety and quality considerations are often inextricably linked to financial challenges.
north_west
An independent review into the independent sector provider One to … — Rec 2
Commissioners should consider whether maternity services can be improved through offering choice but should only contract with providers which can demonstrate the ability to meet local service specifications, quality standards and contractual terms required for the safe delivery of high risk services.
north_west
Independent reviews(50)
Fisher Review (Part 1) — Rec 3
To capture economies of scale and increase join-up, Law Enforcement should consider the benefits of a central technology procurement unit, which could negotiate on behalf of multiple forces who seek to procure a tool from the same provider.
Justice & Legal
Accepted
Newman CAA Review — Rec 4.1
The CAA should finalise, and then implement, its efficiency and reinvestment plan. This includes a significant upgrade in the CAA's IT and ability to deliver services online. The principles of the efficiency and reinvestment plan, including the acceleration of the upgrading of the CAA's IT systems and processes, have been …
Other
Newman CAA Review — Rec 2.2
The CAA should be required to comply with Managing public money. Given the CAA's status as a public corporation it is recognised that there may need to be certain exemptions to managing public money (MPM). These should be agreed by both the DfT and the CAA and should be reviewed …
Other
Carter NHS Productivity Review — Rec 7
All trusts corporate and administration functions should rationalise to ensure their costs do not exceed 7% of their income by April 2018 and 6% of their income by 2020 (or have plans in place for shared service consolidation with, or outsourcing to, other providers by January 2017), so that resources …
Health & Social Care
Carter NHS Productivity Review — Rec 5
All trusts should report their procurement information monthly to NHS Improvement to create an NHS Purchasing Price Index commencing April 2016, collaborate with other trusts and NHS Supply Chain with immediate effect, and commit to the Department of Health's NHS Procurement Transformation Programme (PTP), so that there is an increase …
Health & Social Care
Kerslake Birmingham Review — Rec 5
Birmingham City Council needs as a matter of urgency to develop a robust plan for how they are going to manage their finances up to 2018/19 without recourse to further additional funding from central Government. This should: a. evaluate current policy choice and propose significant further reductions in costs and …
Other
Henley Music Education Review — Rec 16
Currently, musical instruments are purchased on an ad hoc basis by music services and schools. This should be replaced by one centralised national purchasing system, building on the recommendations of Sir Philip Green in his recent report to the Cabinet Office about government procurement.
Education
Carter Legal Aid Review — Rec 4.23
The Legal Services Commission should consider the potential to generate a 5% saving on current spending through the combination of competition on rates and tighter management of very high cost criminal cases in the financial year 2008-09.
Justice & Legal
Myners Institutional Investment Review — Rec 4
Expert advice: Contracts for actuarial services and investment advice should be opened to separate competition. The fund should be prepared to pay sufficient fees for each service to attract a broad range of kinds of potential providers.
Other
Goldacre Review — Rec Open 39
Ensure funding for code and platforms does not get diverted When providing bespoke funding for developing open code and appropriate technical platforms it is necessary to ensure resource is not diverted to fund single research paper outputs for which there is extensive funding through other routes. This will require oversight …
Health & Social Care
Goldacre Review — Rec Open 38
Ensure the objectives and outputs of all investments are open All funding for code projects, especially those around infrastructure, should be openly and publicly disclosed, with a brief description of the amount, the recipient, the expected work and timelines, and a link to the repositories where development and documentation is …
Health & Social Care
Goldacre Review — Rec Open 15
Make Open a Standard Contractual Requirement Government departments should require all those conducting data analysis on their behalf, in-house and as contractors, to share all code, consistent with RAP and the computational methods above, with adequate technical documentation as per RAP criteria. To aid with this Intellectual Property assignment and …
Health & Social Care
Goldacre Review — Rec Open 6
Assert that publicly funded code is publicly owned: cautiously consider “Crown Copyright for code” At present decisions about sharing and licensing code are made, at small scale, in huge numbers, across the health and research landscape, often by people who do not understand the impact and implications of these choices …
Health & Social Care
Goldacre Review — Rec Open 3
Make open code a boilerplate feature of all public contracts Open code sharing should be a required feature of all standard contracts between the NHS and any external provider of code for health data management and analysis; with a similar arrangement for academic funders; and for any university or other …
Health & Social Care
Goldacre Review — Rec NHSA 27
Require all outsourced or external work to comply with RAP and open working methods Currently when analytic projects are outsourced to consultancies, academic collaborators or other agencies it is common for only the results to be reported, for example in a PDF or slide deck, without the accompanying methodology or …
Health & Social Care
Goldacre Review — Rec NHSA 26
Commission and promote best practice on outsourcing analytics It is reasonable for NHS organisations to sometimes seek help from external commercial and public sector organisations to improve the productivity or scope of their analytic outputs, especially in a period of transition while the NHS analyst profession is being developed. However …
Health & Social Care
Goldacre Review — Rec S23
Have a frank public conversation about commercial use of NHS data for innovation, but only after privacy issues have been addressed through adoption of TREs; ensure the NHS gets appropriate financial return where marketable innovations are driven by NHS data, which has been collected at great cost over many decades; …
Health & Social Care
Goldacre Review — Rec S20
Seek expert help from academia and industry, but ensure all code and technical documentation is openly available to all, procuring newly created “intellectual property” on a “buy out” basis. Commission “Best Practice Guidance” on outsourcing data analytics to cover: where external collaborations can be most helpful; the role of skilled …
Health & Social Care
Flanagan Review of Policing — Rec 3
The Home Office should urgently examine its requirement for each force to undertake Activity Based Costing with a view to this requirement being replaced with an alternative which costs less, is easier to use and has greater impact on productivity. It should also assess alternative ways of meeting its information …
Policing & Security
Building Better Building Beautiful Commission — Rec 41
value design as well as price. Homes England (and other government agencies) should: • Ensure that the strategic focus on design in public sector land sales, or joint ventures, is real and is fully percolated throughout the organisation in decisions ‘on the ground’; • Place a greater weighting on design …
Building Safety
Dimbleby National Food Strategy — Rec 13
Strengthen government procurement rules to ensure that taxpayer money is spent on healthy and sustainable food.
Health & Social Care
McNulty Rail Review — Rec 32-rolling-stock
Recommendations on rolling stock: Increased standardisation and more effective procurement of rolling stock, plus establishing strategic partnerships with the ROSCOs.
Other
Oakervee Review — Rec 30
Conclusion 30: There needs to further consideration around whether and how value created in land close to HS2 stations could be captured.
Other
Oakervee Review — Rec 29
Conclusion 29: HS2 Ltd and the DfT should continue, where feasible and appropriate, to engage with the private sector, in association with local government, to develop HS2 stations. There may be opportunities for local authorities or combined authorities, in partnership with the private sector, to take on HS2 Ltd’s role …
Other
Oakervee Review — Rec 28
Conclusion 28: Work needs to continue to ensure that commercial opportunities are maximised at HS2 Phase One stations.
Other
Oakervee Review — Rec 25
Conclusion 25: ahead of issuing NtP for Phase One, the government should ensure that HS2 Ltd achieves a satisfactory position with each of the Main Works Civils contractors in order to obtain acceptable Stage 2 prices and a reasonable level of value engineering. If HS2 Ltd cannot achieve a satisfactory …
Other
Skidmore Review — Rec 72
Government to develop a public procurement plan for low- carbon construction and the use of low-carbon materials, by the end of 2023.
Other
Skidmore Review — Rec 63
Government to drive the creation of sustainable material supply chains and influence market development through its public procurement standards by 2027
Other
Modern Slavery Act Review — Rec 34
The Crown Commercial Service should keep a database of public contractors and details of compliance checks and due diligence carried out by public authorities. The database should be easily accessible to public authorities for use during the procurement purposes.
Justice & Legal
Accepted
Modern Slavery Act Review — Rec 33
Government should strengthen its public procurement processes to make sure that non- compliant companies in scope of section 54 are not eligible for public contracts.
Justice & Legal
Accepted
Gauke Review — Rec 7.3
Expand the use of the third sector to support offenders on community sentences and licence, to help the Probation Service prioritise resource and improve outcomes for offenders
Justice & Legal
Gauke Review — Rec 7.2
Increase funding available for the third sector to support the Probation Service to manage offenders in the community and enable increased commissioning of local organisations
Justice & Legal
Corry Defra Regulation Review — Rec 20
A short review is needed to assess the current landscape of chargeable services and cost recovery across Defra, so it can go further in applying the polluter pays principle, to support the Department in providing faster and more transparent digital services to customers.
Other
Corry Defra Regulation Review — Rec 7
Ensure regulators are devoting the right balance of time and resourcing to driving outcomes including growth. Defra should review this as part of the Spending Review settlement and ensure that operating models (a) are maximised to attract private sector investment; (b) allow regulators to recover the full cost of services, …
Other
Carter Legal Aid Review — Rec 6.2
Using the new improved monitoring information, the Legal Services Commission should identify significant upward movements in unit cost and bring together all parties (using the mechanisms for stakeholder relations set out in Chapter 6) to secure shared understanding of the position and agreement to an adjustment down in price or …
Justice & Legal
Carter Legal Aid Review — Rec 5.6
The Legal Services Commission should include the methods and timing of making payments to suppliers as a factor when determining the length of contracts awarded under a best value tendering process.
Justice & Legal
Carter Legal Aid Review — Rec 4.37
The Legal Services Commission should encourage growth in family provision through best value based bidding on contract sizes and length of contract by 2009, but subject to the need to maintain a variety of good quality, efficient suppliers within the family justice system.
Justice & Legal
Carter Legal Aid Review — Rec 4.36
The Legal Services Commission should consider the possibility of tailoring family contract sizes in relation to quality. For instance, a firm with a high peer review score, who might be prepared to be subject to more stringent performance targets, could be offered an extended contract, e.g. up to five years, …
Justice & Legal
Carter Legal Aid Review — Rec 4.35
The Legal Services Commission should ensure the fee levels they are proposing for the new public law children scheme for solicitors is sustainable within the overall legal aid budget, and consistent with maintaining a good quality supplier base.
Justice & Legal
Carter Legal Aid Review — Rec 4.34
The Legal Services Commission should replace the current public law children ex post facto scheme with a graduated fee scheme aligned with the Judicial Case Management Protocol for Care Proceedings. Other public law children work, that is not covered by the graduated fee scheme, should be kept under review by …
Justice & Legal
Carter Legal Aid Review — Rec 4.33
The move to the family help procurement scheme from April 2007, should be seen as paving the way to a graduated fee scheme for solicitors in private law family that includes the final hearing stage from autumn 2007.
Justice & Legal
Carter Legal Aid Review — Rec 4.32
The Legal Services Commission should ensure the fee levels they are proposing for private law family are sustainable within the overall legal aid budget, and consistent with maintaining a good quality supplier base.
Justice & Legal
Carter Legal Aid Review — Rec 4.31
The procurement strategy in the category of mental health should be kept under close review by the Legal Services Commission, as it will need to take account of future changes in mental health legislation, and if there is a move towards more clients being cared from at home and not …
Justice & Legal
Carter Legal Aid Review — Rec 4.29
The process of moving to indicative budget allocations by the Legal Services Commission for legal help for social welfare law through deprivation data should be managed carefully to minimise any disruption to services. As part of this process, the funding formula should enable the Legal Services Commission to decide in …
Justice & Legal
Carter Legal Aid Review — Rec 4.28
Bids by suppliers to work in community legal advice networks should refer to arrangements they have together agreed for co-operation with other bidders, so that it can build on existing informal networks. This could include proposed co-location and active referral arrangements. Bidders should also be asked by the Legal Services …
Justice & Legal
Carter Legal Aid Review — Rec 4.26
Where practicable, the Legal Services Commission requires firms to report success rates in civil certificated cases as one of the performance indicators in the contracts, so the Legal Services Commission is able to monitor if devolved powers for certification are being used properly.
Justice & Legal
Carter Legal Aid Review — Rec 4.25
Wherever possible, the Legal Services Commission should ensure that the dynamics, between the fixed fee for civil legal help and the payments for civil court work, act to reward early settlements where it is appropriate. The Legal Services Commission needs to look at this in more detail, and whether this …
Justice & Legal
Carter Legal Aid Review — Rec 4.24
The Legal Services Commission should ensure the fixed fees for legal help with which they propose to replace tailored fixed fees in civil categories of law are sustainable within the overall legal aid budget, and consistent with maintaining a good quality supplier base.
Justice & Legal
Carter Legal Aid Review — Rec 4.19
The Legal Services Commission should require all defence teams and prosecution bodies to notify all cases that would be expected to last 25 days or more at trial and/or the defence teams costs are estimated to be £100,000 or greater. The Legal Services Commission should contract all cases that would …
Justice & Legal
Carter Legal Aid Review — Rec 4.18
The Legal Services Commission should establish a best value tendered panel for very high cost criminal cases based on the steps sets out in paragraphs 80 to 89 of Chapter 4. Prior to doing so the issues set out in paragraph 90 of Chapter 4 should be consulted on with …
Justice & Legal
PHSO casework decisions(5)
P-004761 — HM Revenue and Customs
Mr D complained HMRC erroneously set his tax rate and estimated income, causing a large income tax underpayment, financial hardship, and unfair interest charges.
UK Government
Jan 2026
P-004763 — HM Revenue and Customs
Mr N complained HMRC did not correctly apply its Admin Law Manual (ADML1300) to his case, resulting in financial hardship from an underpayment claim.
UK Government
Jan 2026
P-004703 — UK Research and Innovation
Dr J complained UKRI misdirected him about extending grant payment timescales, causing his company significant financial loss, operational difficulties, and reputational damage.
UK Government
Jan 2026
P-003708 — Rural Payments Agency
Mr E complained the Rural Payments Agency incorrectly stopped payments to four companies for a year after ownership changes, causing severe cash flow difficulties and operational disruption.
UK Government
Jul 2025
P-001222 — HM Revenue & Customs
Mr H complained HMRC failed to properly consider his £36,000.02 claim for reimbursement of professional fees incurred during a VAT enquiry, causing him debt and mental stress.
UK Government
Dec 2021
LGO / SPSO decisions(88)
22-005-902 — Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to pay the complainant’s legal fees. A court of law is the suitable body to decide liability for financial loss. It is not unreasonable to the complainant to seek a legal remedy in court.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Aug 2022
22-005-291 — Birmingham City Council
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a request for information about Business Improvement District payers. This is because the information has now been provided.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Aug 2022
24-005-006 — Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council set annual rent for a carpark. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council made its decision to justify our involvement.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Aug 2024
25-000-679 — City of Wolverhampton Council
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s involvement in the termination of his lease agreement with his landlord. This is because we could not achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mr X.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
May 2025
21-016-648 — Thurrock Council
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s disposal of her belongings from a garage it repossessed without contacting her. This is because it would be reasonable for her to take the matter to court.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Mar 2022
22-002-503 — East Sussex County Council
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council’s highways wastes taxpayers’ money, fails to deal with routine maintenance, and gave dishonest information to refute his claim for damage to his vehicle. We cannot achieve what Mr X wants and he can reasonably use his legal remedy if …
LGO (Local Government & …
Transport And Highways
May 2022
23-012-095 — Greater London Authority
Mr X complains about how the Authority installed and carried out updates to his home under the Warmer Homes Scheme. Mr X says this caused him distress and the loss of use of his property. The Ombudsman has discontinued the complaint as an alternative remedy is available to resolve the …
LGO (Local Government & …
Housing
Not Upheld
Apr 2024
23-020-594 — Torbay Council
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision terminate a commercial lease and failed to provide an alternative unit. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. The complaint is late and we …
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
May 2024
23-021-042 — Lancashire County Council
Summary: We will not investigate Mr C’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to instruct his company to pursue a claim for tax rebates on its behalf. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council causing Mr C injustice and it would be reasonable for him …
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
May 2024
23-016-884 — Luton Borough Council
Summary: Mr X complained the Council did not explain his company would need to apply to join an Approved Providers List to continue to work with the Council. The Council’s failure to ensure all providers were aware they would need to apply to the new APL to continue working with …
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Upheld
Jul 2024
24-004-456 — Blackpool Borough Council
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to contact the complainant at their correspondence address. We cannot achieve the £25,000 financial compensation the complainant is seeking. Such compensation claims are matters for the courts.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Aug 2024
24-017-526 — Warwick District Council
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to complete its complaints procedure or pay the offered compensation. The Council has agreed to increase the compensation in recognition of the failures. We are satisfied with this proposal.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Upheld
Jul 2025
25-009-552 — Stoke-on-Trent City Council
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s role relating during enforcement action by another agency. This is because the Council have already responded and provided Mr X an explanation. Further investigation would not achieve any worthwhile outcome.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Oct 2025
24-021-944 — London Borough of Hillingdon
Summary: Miss X complained about the Council’s actions in relation to a business she runs in a Council-owned property. We have not investigated all aspects of her complaint, as it would be reasonable for her to pursue some matters through the courts. We find the Council at fault for poor …
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Upheld
Oct 2025
24-017-473 — Lichfield District Council
Summary: Mr X complained the Council introduced planning validation fees that had no legal basis. We found this was a matter for the courts but there was fault by the Council as it failed to show its action in not returning the full planning fee when rejecting invalid applications was …
LGO (Local Government & …
Planning
Upheld
Nov 2025
25-020-287 — London Borough of Havering
on the lessons that can be learnt from our complaints about end of life care given in care homes and in the home.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Feb 2026
25-011-260 — London Borough of Islington
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a breach of contract. Mr X has an alternative legal remedy and given the circumstances of his complaint, it is reasonable to expect Mr X to take court action to resolve his dispute.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Jan 2026
24-016-375 — London Borough of Newham
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to respond to his communications. Mr X can take court action to evict the tenant and make an order about any outstanding rent, and it is reasonable for him to take that action.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Jan 2026
21-013-383 — Milton Keynes Council
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about loss to the public purse from how the Council administered a council tax account. This impacts all or most of the people in the Council’s area and is therefore not within our legal remit.
LGO (Local Government & …
Benefits And Tax
Jan 2022
21-011-615 — London Borough of Barking & Dagenham
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about access to a garage rented from the Council. The complaint is made late and the complainant can seek a remedy in court for any losses.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Jan 2022
21-016-318 — Newcastle upon Tyne City Council
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council publicised a tendering opportunity. This is because there is no evidence of fault by the Council or the company acting on its behalf.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Mar 2022
21-000-856 — Birmingham City Council
Summary: Ms X complains the Council is charging her more to rent a garage than it does council tenants and has failed to take action to prevent residents from blocking her garage. There is no evidence of fault in how the Council dealt with Ms X’s reports of residents blocking …
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Upheld
Mar 2022
22-001-112 — London Borough of Southwark
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s disposal of his belongings from a garage it rented without contacting him. This is because it would be reasonable for him to take the matter to court.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
May 2022
22-002-887 — Liverpool City Council
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about contractual matters. This is because the courts are better placed to consider the complaint.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Jun 2022
22-005-475 — London Borough of Hounslow
this complaint about the Council’s decision to end Miss X’s garage tenancy agreement. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Aug 2022
22-008-070 — Arun District Council
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the costs the Council charged when Mr X sold his beach-hut. That is because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Oct 2022
22-006-851 — East Suffolk Council
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about access to a beach-hut. That is because Mr and Mrs X’s injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Oct 2022
24-004-900 — Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council
Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s increase of its licence fee for renting space at a business centre. This is because the issue is not subject to investigation under the Local Government Act 1974. It is in any event a dispute over whether the Council’s actions …
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Aug 2024
23-019-545 — London Borough of Croydon
Summary: Mr B complained that the Council had failed to take effective action to stop a resident blocking access to his garage. It had also failed to respond to his communications about the problems or refund the garage rent despite promising to do so. We have found fault in the …
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Upheld
Aug 2024
24-005-646 — North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the presence of asbestos and damage to a business premises that the complainant leases from the Council. This is because the issues raised are better considered by the courts.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Sep 2024
24-018-383 — West Sussex County Council
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council commissions care services. That is because it does not meet the tests set out in our Assessment Code.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Apr 2025
24-019-443 — Cheshire West & Chester Council
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a wayleave agreement. This is because it is about a commercial transaction relating to industrial or business premises on land the Council owns and leases to the complainant.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Apr 2025
25-003-854 — London Borough of Lambeth
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about losses he incurred due to his property being used as temporary accommodation because it is more appropriate for him to take court action and because we could not achieve the outcome he wants.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Sep 2025
24-022-800 — London Borough of Redbridge
Summary: We have upheld Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his Right to Buy application. The Council accepts there was an error in the sale price used and has reinstated the offer, based on the valuation price. This puts Mr X back to the position he would have …
LGO (Local Government & …
Housing
Upheld
Oct 2025
24-023-151 — Worcestershire County Council
Summary: Mr X complained of a contractual dispute between his care company and the Council. Mr X also complained the Council failed to safeguard, communicate and complete care reviews for service users. I have ended this investigation as the courts are best placed to consider contractual matters. The remaining part …
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Not Upheld
Oct 2025
25-010-617 — Bristol City Council
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to require contractors to operate with either a Private Hire Vehicle or a Public Service Vehicle licence when providing school transport. This is because his complaint is late and I have found no good reason why he could …
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Nov 2025
25-009-087 — Havant Borough Council
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council ending his business tenancy. The Courts are best placed to deal with contractual matters.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Nov 2025
24-011-654 — North Somerset Council
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about invoices raised by the Council to collect a business levy. If Mr X disputes his liability for the charges, it is reasonable for him to take the matter to court.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Dec 2024
24-011-934 — St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint the Council delayed paying early years providers for commissioned places. That is because there is no good reason the complainant cannot take the matter to court.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Dec 2024
201103520 — Scottish Prison Service
Mr C, who was a prisoner, complained that the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) did not follow proper finance procedures when he received some cash by post in prison. When Mr C complained, the SPS acknowledged that there had been a mistake, and that procedures had not been followed. They also …
SPSO (Scottish Public Se…
Prisons
Upheld
Apr 2012
201202654 — Business Stream
Ms C runs a dog grooming business from home. She complained that Business Stream phoned her and asked for details of her business without giving reasons for the call, then emailed her saying that they were the licensed provider for the water and waste water services for the business element …
SPSO (Scottish Public Se…
Water
Partly Upheld
Aug 2013
201200872 — Business Stream
Mr C was the owner of a trough in a field. In 2008, he had experienced an increase in water consumption. He explained that at that time some work had been undertaken locally on water mains, so it was accepted that the increase was caused by that and the amount …
SPSO (Scottish Public Se…
Water
Upheld
Aug 2013
PSOW-202300463 — Vale of Glamorgan Council
Miss L complained that the Vale of Glamorgan Council failed to acknowledge that she is entitled to a Council Tax reduction. Miss L further complained that the Council failed to communicate effectively with her, provided her with incorrect information, and did not respond to her concerns that had been raised …
PSOW (Public Services Om…
Local Government
Jun 2023
21-015-006 — Crawley Borough Council
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council damaged his property. This is because it would be reasonable for him to go to court.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Feb 2022
21-006-778 — Northumberland County Council
Summary: The Council was at fault when it incorrectly advised Mr X about the type of licence needed for his new business. The Council has agreed to pay Mr X £300 in recognition of avoidable frustration and raised expectations caused by this fault. The Council has also agreed to our …
LGO (Local Government & …
Environment And Regulation
Upheld
Feb 2022
21-015-159 — Basildon Borough Council
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint because it is about a contract dispute between the Council and the complainant and the matter has been subject to the commencement of court proceedings.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Feb 2022
21-013-547 — Central Bedfordshire Council
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Councils decision to award contacts to the complainants’ competitors. It would have been reasonable for Mr X to take legal action if he felt the Council had not conducted the tender properly.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
Apr 2022
22-000-595 — Winchester City Council
Summary: Mr X complains about matters concerning products he and others are able to sell at a local market. We will not investigate the complaint because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
May 2022
21-018-547 — Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea
Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s contract with a competitor business which impacted on his business. We will not investigate the complaint because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council and an investigation is unlikely to lead to a different outcome.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
May 2022
22-001-353 — Somerset West and Taunton Council
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint that a parish council was overcharged for a Council service. This is because we cannot investigate complaints made by public bodies such as parish councils.
LGO (Local Government & …
Other Categories
May 2022
Domestic Homicide Reviews(2)
Kent — recommendation 2
Kent County Council must, as part of the performance monitoring of its contract with Centra, consider how the concerns identified in this report are being addressed by Centra to ensure that the service provided to high risk victims of domestic abuse is improved.
Kent County Council
Kent County Council
Durham — recommendation 10.2.13
Impact of Service level agreements.
Durham Constabulary
Durham Constabulary
CJINI inspection reports(3)
Report on Improving Procurement in the Criminal Justice System
Governance, The Criminal Justice System
Jan 2007
A report on the Use of Consultants by the Criminal Justice System
Governance, The Criminal Justice System
Mar 2010
Effective Penalty Enforcement: A review of the impact of current fine default strategy and services
Prosecution and the Courts, Court Operations
Jul 2021