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Jeremy Peat, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Trustee, said:

"The Trust welcomes the NAO's positive findings about the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s procurement practices. The NAO's assessment that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ reflects good practice in procurement overall and is on course to deliver its targeted efficiency savings is very encouraging. We accept the NAO's specific recommendations to improve processes further in order to deliver even more savings. These recommendations have been discussed with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Executive and we are content that the Executive's actions are an appropriate response."

Sir John Bourn, Comptroller and Auditor General, said:

"Overall the ´óÏó´«Ã½ has introduced good procurement practices to secure value for money when purchasing goods and services. However, there are still some important ways the ´óÏó´«Ã½ could improve and make further savings, and the implementation of recommendations made in my report will enable the ´óÏó´«Ã½ to make better use of licence fee payers' money."

´óÏó´«Ã½ procurement

The NAO review looked at how the ´óÏó´«Ã½ manages its spending on goods and services and whether it is organised and equipped to deliver best value from its procurement. It also examined whether there was scope for the ´óÏó´«Ã½ to make further savings from its procurement arrangements.

The ´óÏó´«Ã½ spends more than £500 million each year on a wide range of goods and services, from broadcast specific products for programme makers, such as props, costume, and lighting, to more generic items for all its employees like stationery and travel. According to the NAO, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ has adopted good procurement practices to improve significantly its procurement and deliver better value for money. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is on course to achieve its target of £75 million savings from its procurement activities in the three years to March 2008.

The report has identified a series of recommendations to improve the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s procurement process further. These include the ´óÏó´«Ã½:

• Continuing to develop the use of technology to minimise administrative costs.

  The Trust welcomes the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Executive's commitment to develop further the use of e-procurement to reduce costs.

• Getting better deals from suppliers by negotiating more central contracts and reducing the number of suppliers it uses where spending is of low value.

  The Trust supports the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Executive's attempts to reduce the number of suppliers it has and increase the number of central contracts. The Trust agrees with the NAO's recommendation that a balance must be struck between reducing supplier numbers and keeping the supply base open.

• Strengthening the way it assesses its procurement performance by starting to measure user satisfaction.

  The Trust endorses the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Executive's approach to introducing other indicators as recommended by the NAO.

Notes for editors

1. It is the responsibility of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Trust, under the Royal Charter, to ensure that value for money is achieved by the ´óÏó´«Ã½ through its spending of the licence fee. In order to fulfil this responsibility, the Trust commissions and publishes a series of independent value for money reviews each year in consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor General – the head of the NAO. The reviews are undertaken by the NAO or other external agencies.
2. The Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, is the head of the National Audit Office which employs some 850 staff. He and the NAO are independent of government. He certifies the accounts of all government departments and a wide range of other public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which departments and other bodies have used their resources.
3. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ Trust has today also published an independent report by Deloitte & Touche into how efficiently and effectively the ´óÏó´«Ã½ uses the spectrum it has available to it. This report was commissioned by the Trust as part of its programme of value for money reviews into the ´óÏó´«Ã½, following discussions with the National Audit Office.