Ministry of Justice financial management

Ministry of Justice financial management
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2012-03-20
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780215043351

The Ministry has improved its financial management since the Committee's last report in January 2011 (HC 574, ISBN 9780215556042). Many of the Ministry's processes have improved, including modelling and forecasting, but the Ministry has not achieved significant improvements in the delivery of key financial outcomes and therefore has much still to do. The most serious issue is the Ministry's inability to report its financial affairs on a timely and accurate basis. The Ministry's own resource accounts for 2010-11 were delivered late and there were significant problems with the accounts produced by two of its major arm's length bodies, the Legal Services Commission and HM Courts Service's Trust Statement. The Ministry faces significant accounting challenges for the 2011-12 financial year, due to the required earlier publication of the accounts. The Ministry needs to break the cycle of continuing failure to produce accurate and timely accounts. It also faces considerable challenges in meeting its tough spending review commitments, but without a full understanding of its costs, the Ministry risks unnecessarily cutting frontline services, which are critical to the poorest in the community, rather than ensuring savings are achieved through genuine efficiencies. Maximising the income it obtains will help the Ministry and fine collection is improving, but it is being outpaced by the growth in fines outstanding. Excellent financial management is critical to the Ministry's future success as it seeks to achieve significant efficiency gains while coping with workload pressures, such as increases in the prison population, that are largely outside its control.

The Budget and Structure of the Ministry of Justice

The Budget and Structure of the Ministry of Justice
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Justice Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2012-08-18
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780215047557

In the five years since the Ministry of Justice was created, it has made improvements to its structure and performance and is now a more integrated Department. However, the Ministry is still too much in thrall to the prison service: better integrated offender management would enable the Ministry to make the financial savings demanded of it but also provide a more effective service to clients, users and the wider public, and in particular to achieve its key objective to reduce re-offending. The Ministry has been subject to past criticism for poor financial management - missing the Treasury's deadline for the laying of accounts three years running, woeful inefficiency in the administration of legal aid and too much focus on policy at the expense of delivery. Following an in-depth investigation into all aspects of the Department's work, the Committee concluded that the Ministry has got a grip of the situation and is justifying the rationale for its creation. However, the MPs believe the Department could undergo further restructuring to create a single delivery body. Additionally, the current structure of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), which continues to be driven by prison priorities, produces difficulties in reducing re-offending. The Committee also makes a number of further recommendations to improve how the Department functions

Financial management report 2011

Financial management report 2011
Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2011-11-23
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780102976960

Financial management at the Ministry of Justice has improved considerably since the National Audit Office last examined this subject in 2010 (HC 187, ISBN 9780102965339). The Ministry now has effective governance structures in place and, in 2010-11, managed its money far more effectively, allowing it to redeploy funds to where they were most needed. Financial management is now much more central to the operation of the organisation and the quality and consistency of financial planning and forecasting have improved. Financial information for decision making is more relevant and useful, with the Ministry's planning work allowing it to bring together a wide range of business information to estimate the financial implications of its workload. It has also improved oversight of its arm's-length bodies. The Ministry still has gaps in financial reporting skills and some of its underlying systems need further improvement. It was one of only two government departments that failed to produce their financial accounts by the 2011 summer Parliamentary recess, mainly due to the accounts for the National Offender Management Service being produced late. The Legal Services Commission, an arm's-length body of the MOJ, had the audit opinion on its 2010-11 accounts qualified owing to the potential level of error, put at an estimated £50 million. There has also been little change in how the Ministry monitors and collects assets due under confiscation orders, with the amount of outstanding debt having increased by almost £400 million in 2010-11.

Managing Public Money

Managing Public Money
Author: Great Britain. Treasury
Publisher: Stationery Office Books (TSO)
Total Pages: 69
Release: 2007
Genre: Finance, Public
ISBN: 9780115601262

Dated October 2007. The publication is effective from October 2007, when it replaces "Government accounting". Annexes to this document may be viewed at www.hm-treasury.gov.uk

Republic of Latvia

Republic of Latvia
Author: International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 81
Release: 2023-09-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Latvia is facing an inflation shock, slow growth, and geopolitical challenges, while the long-term policy concern is to sustain the income convergence process. Headline inflation has surged over the past year in Latvia, measuring 12.3 percent y/y in May, while core inflation increased to 12.4 percent y/y in May. The new government, which took office in December 2022, will also have to continue to deal with the spillovers in the Baltic region from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the impact of sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus, the cost-of-living crisis, energy security, and the expected slowdown in growth. To secure high long-term growth in a low-inflation environment, Latvia needs to address three structural issues: (i) low productivity, (ii) low investment, and (iii) skilled labor shortages.

DfID financial management

DfID financial management
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2011-10-20
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780215561848

This report examines the Department for International Development's financial management capability, its increasing focus on value for money, and the challenges it faces in managing its increasing programme budget while reducing its overall running costs. DFID is protected from overall expenditure reductions as the Government has committed to increasing the UK's aid spending to 0.7% of gross national income by 2013. The Department faces a substantial challenge to improve its financial management while reducing its administration costs by a third over the next four years. The Committee welcomes the planned introduction, in 2011, of a finance improvement plan. DFID must now keep up the focus on better financial management. There is concern that the Department does not quantify the likely level of leakage through fraud and corruption. And DFID is only considering fraud risk at the level of delivery method rather than at a country level. Management of fraud risk will require a stronger framework for ensuring money is properly spent on the ground, with effective monitoring and pro-active anti-fraud work. The likely increase in funding via multilateral organisations (which then determine how to distribute the aid worldwide) might not ensure value for money as DFID does not have the same visibility over the cost and performance of multilaterals' programmes as it does over its own bilateral programmes. Finally, the Committee is concerned that the Department still has insufficient data to make informed investment decisions based on value for money.

Republic of Latvia

Republic of Latvia
Author: International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 73
Release: 2019-08-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 151351007X

This 2019 Article IV Consultation with Republic of Latvia highlights that the economy continued to expand rapidly in 2018, as growth surprised with a strong construction-driven upswing. Fiscal and current account deficits are at manageable levels, as is the public debt. The financial system remains stable, despite a significant balance sheet restructuring of banks servicing foreign clients. The growth outlook is favourable; however, risks weigh on the downside due to a less supportive external environment. The financial system remains stable despite a significant balance sheet restructuring of banks servicing foreign clients. Banks remains well capitalized and liquid, with capital levels about 40 percent higher than the euro area average and average liquidity coverage four times the regulatory minimum. Higher productivity and investment growth are needed to offset the impact of Latvia’s exceptionally unfavorable demographic trends and achieve robust long-term growth and rapid income convergence.