Maintaining and Improving Britain's Railway Stations

Maintaining and Improving Britain's Railway Stations PDF Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0102933227
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 66

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Book Description
Network Rail owns most of Britain's 2507 stations and is responsible for their structural repair and renewal. It also operates and manages 17 large stations, known as managed stations. It leases the remainder, known as franchised stations, to 22 Train Operating Companies (TOCs) responsible for station maintenance, cleaning and operations. The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) sets minimum standards, including facilities and services required at franchised stations, monitors TOCs' compliance with requirements and helps fund stations' operation and improvement. In this report, NAO examines whether passengers are satisfied with station facilities and services and whether station requirements are being met, the barriers to station improvement and what is being done to overcome them. There has been a little improvement in passengers' satisfaction over recent years. National Passenger Survey data show that satisfaction increased from 59 per cent to 63 per cent between 1999 and 2005, but the greatest levels of dissatisfaction are with the more than 2000 small and medium-sized stations which are unstaffed, or staffed for only part of the day, and which have few facilities. But there is a gap between rising passenger expectations on the one hand, and value for money and what the government and the industry can afford to spend on the other. Funding constraints constitute the biggest barrier to further improvement. Having originally envisaged spending £225 million on new facilities at 980 stations in its Modern Facilities at Stations programme, the SRA shrank the programme to £25 million and 68 stations to match the amount of money the Department for Transport made available.

Maintaining and Improving Britain's Railway Stations

Maintaining and Improving Britain's Railway Stations PDF Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0102933227
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 66

Get Book

Book Description
Network Rail owns most of Britain's 2507 stations and is responsible for their structural repair and renewal. It also operates and manages 17 large stations, known as managed stations. It leases the remainder, known as franchised stations, to 22 Train Operating Companies (TOCs) responsible for station maintenance, cleaning and operations. The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) sets minimum standards, including facilities and services required at franchised stations, monitors TOCs' compliance with requirements and helps fund stations' operation and improvement. In this report, NAO examines whether passengers are satisfied with station facilities and services and whether station requirements are being met, the barriers to station improvement and what is being done to overcome them. There has been a little improvement in passengers' satisfaction over recent years. National Passenger Survey data show that satisfaction increased from 59 per cent to 63 per cent between 1999 and 2005, but the greatest levels of dissatisfaction are with the more than 2000 small and medium-sized stations which are unstaffed, or staffed for only part of the day, and which have few facilities. But there is a gap between rising passenger expectations on the one hand, and value for money and what the government and the industry can afford to spend on the other. Funding constraints constitute the biggest barrier to further improvement. Having originally envisaged spending £225 million on new facilities at 980 stations in its Modern Facilities at Stations programme, the SRA shrank the programme to £25 million and 68 stations to match the amount of money the Department for Transport made available.

Maintaining and Improving Britain's Railway Stations

Maintaining and Improving Britain's Railway Stations PDF Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215027160
Category : Railroad stations
Languages : en
Pages : 47

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Book Description
There are over 2000 railway stations in Britain which vary in age, size and passenger usage. Following on from a National Audit Office report (HCP 132, session 2005-06; ISBN 0102933227) published in July 2005, the report examines the quality of station facilities and services, barriers to station improvement and what is being done to overcome them. The report finds that insufficient attention has been given to the quality of stations over recent years, and little account has been taken of passengers' needs and priorities. Passengers are most concerned over issues of station upkeep, repair and personal safety, and passenger satisfaction remains low for medium sized and small stations. More than half of Britain's stations are not fully accessible to disabled people, whilst a third of larger stations in England and Wales are without waiting rooms and some without toilet facilities. The original franchises awarded on privatisation of the railways failed to put sufficient emphasis on improving station facilities, and the assessment of station quality has been left largely to station operators with little use made of financial penalties to drive up standards. The number of bodies involved in maintaining and improving stations has led to a fragmented approach, lacking overall leadership and strategic focus.

Personal Passenger Safety in Railway Stations

Personal Passenger Safety in Railway Stations PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Transport Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0215028996
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description
Personal passenger safety in railway Stations : Oral and written evidence, oral evidence taken on Wednesday 19 April 2006

Going for Gold

Going for Gold PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Transport Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0215027914
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Going for Gold : Transport for London's 2012 Olympic Games, third report of session 2005-06, Vol. 2: Oral and written Evidence

Improving Poorly Performing Schools in England

Improving Poorly Performing Schools in England PDF Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0102936633
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
In 2004-05, approximately £837 million was spent in England on a range of national programmes to help address problems in schools that were failing or at risk of failing to provide an acceptable standard of education for their pupils, and five new academies were opened with an estimated total development cost of around £160 million. This NAO report focuses on two key issues: whether enough is being done to identify and support schools that show signs of deteriorating performance; and whether the measures being taken to address poor performance are effective to ensure continued improvement in 'recovered' schools. The effectiveness of national initiatives and local actions are assessed and examples of good practice from schools that have been successfully turned around are highlighted. Recommendations made include the need for: the DfES and local authorities to combine efforts to identify schools at risk and intervene before schools fail; schools to prioritise school leadership and to establish a positive culture centred on teaching and learning; and Ofsted to carry out more frequent inspections of vulnerable or poorly performing schools.

Public Sector Auditing

Public Sector Auditing PDF Author: Sir John Bourn
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 9780470725344
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
Drawing on 20 years of experience as Comptroller and Auditor General, and head of the United Kingdom National Audit Office, Public Sector Auditing: Is it Value for Money? is Sir John Bourn’s own account of the role and influence value for money auditing has in holding governments to account and in helping public bodies improve the ways in which they deliver services. Key features include: In-depth case studies from UK, US, Canada, China, India and Australia; Detailed analysis of complex areas of public expenditure such as health, education, privatisation, regulation, defence and IT; Examples of how auditing can promote positive outcomes rather than negative post mortems. This book is relevant for people working in both the public and private sectors, and should be essential reading for the staff of public sector audit institutions around the world, as well as commercial accountancy firms and students of accountancy, politics, economics and public management.

Employers' Perspectives on Improving Skills for Employment

Employers' Perspectives on Improving Skills for Employment PDF Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0102936544
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
A strong skill base is an important element of a productive and sustainable economy. The Department for Education and Skills spends around £6.7 billion on skills training in England, with an additional £23.7 billion being spent by employers. Despite this expenditure there are still skill shortages and the UK has low productivity compared to rival economies. This report follows two others on the subject: 'Skills for life: improving adult literacy and numeracy' (ISBN 0102931631); and 'Securing strategic leadership in the learning and skills sector in England' (ISBN 010293689). It is based on direct research with employers on how they want publicly funded training to be improved and whether it represents value for money. It is divided into four sections that look at the need for: clear advice on the best training for staff; training that meets business needs; incentives for employers to do more training; and ways that employers can influences skills training.

Progress in Improving Government Efficiency

Progress in Improving Government Efficiency PDF Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0102937087
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description
Government departments have been set targets for implementing efficiency gains of £21.5 billion a year by 2007-08, as part of the Treasury's Efficiency Programme following on from the recommendations of the Gershon Review of public sector efficiency (available at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk./spending_review/spend_sr04/associated_documents/spending_sr04_efficiency.cfm) published in July 2004. This NAO report examines the progress made towards improving efficiency and highlights examples of good practice from which departments and the wider public sector can learn. A companion volume of case studies is available separately (HCP 802-II, session 2005-06, ISBN 0102937095). The report finds that good progress is being made towards achieving the £21.5 billion target and departments are managing their efficiency programmes well. However, some caution is needed in assessing the gains reported so far (due to the time lags in reporting of data and limitations in measurement methodologies) and therefore these should be considered provisional and subject to further verification. Six key areas are highlighted for future improvements in public sector efficiency, including in relation to strategic leadership, staff expertise and greater collaboration to share good practice across the public sector.

Improving Poorly Performing Schools in England

Improving Poorly Performing Schools in England PDF Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0215030680
Category : School improvement programs
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description
In 2004-05, approximately £837 million was spent in England on a range of national programmes to help address problems in schools that were failing or at risk of failing to provide an acceptable standard of education for their pupils. Following on from a NAO report (HC 679, session 2005-06; ISBN 0102936633) published in January 2006, the Committee's report examines the activities of the DfES and Ofsted to identify and deal with poorly performing schools, to strengthen school leadership and to develop simpler relationships with schools. Findings include that, although the number of poorly performing schools has been reducing, there are still around 1,500 in England that are under-performing. Improvements in data on secondary school performance has helped to identify schools in decline at an earlier stage so that they can benefit from increased support, and similar improvement needs to be done at primary school level. The system of shorter Ofsted inspections, based on school self-evaluation of performance, may be appropriate for the majority of schools, but some schools are not evaluating themselves effectively and incentives needs to be created to help achieve this. School leadership is essential to achieving and maintaining improvements, and Ofsted reports need to diagnose any leadership problems in failing schools explicitly. Local authorities and other schools are important sources of support for struggling schools and there should be greater opportunities for schools to collaborate and share good practice.

Enhancing Urban Green Space

Enhancing Urban Green Space PDF Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0102936552
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 85

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Book Description
The provision of urban parks, recreation grounds and other green spaces can make a vital contribution to the quality of urban life and to the achievement of a range of Government objectives in relation to improved health, sustainable neighbourhood renewal and community cohesion, especially in more deprived areas. This NAO report examines the effectiveness of national policy initiatives on green space issues, focusing on progress made to assess the quality of urban green spaces, to improve financial management procedures, and to protect and enhance provision through the planning system. Overall, the report finds that the decline in quality of urban green spaces has been halted in most areas, with signs of recovery in many places. Greater priority for green space investment and new sources of funds from central government and the lottery have enabled local authorities and other public bodies, working in partnership with local communities, to bring about the refurbishment and renewal of many green spaces. However, surveys show that there is a wide variation between urban local authorities, and improvements need to be in relation to the sharing and application of good practice on green space management.