Letter to the Chairman of the Committee
from Sir Peter Ricketts KCMG, Permanent Under-Secretary of State,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
PUBLICATION OF THE NAO FOURTH VALIDATION
COMPENDIUM REPORT
I am pleased to enclose a copy of the National
Audit Office's (NAO) Fourth Validation Compendium Report.[4]
The report summarises the results of the NAO's examination of
the data systems used by a number of Whitehall Departments (including
the FCO) in 2006-07 to monitor and report on progress against
the 2005-08 PSA targets.
The report acknowledges that the FCO has made
significant progress in implementing recommendations made in the
last compendium report. A further five recommendations have been
made by the NAO in this report, which we have accepted. We offered
the NAO a clear course of action on how we will implement these
five recommendations, which they have endorsed.
As you will see, the majority of data systems
currently in place to measure our PSA targets have been assessed
as "Amber" (broadly appropriate). One was measured as
"Green" (fit for purpose), and three assessed as "Red"
(not fit for purpose"). The three PSAs that are currently
rated as "Red" are PSA 7 (Engaging with the Islamic
World), PSA 9A (Entry Clearance—Visas), and PSA 9B, vii
(Consular—Customer Satisfaction Survey). We are making plans
where possible, to address the NAO's concerns.
The report will be formally published on the
NAO's website on Wednesday 19 December.
Peter Ricketts
19 December 2007
4 HC (2007-08) 22. Back
| 
