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Government’s response to £239m worth of inquiries has been “opaque,” says NAO

BMJ 2018; 361 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k2332 (Published 24 May 2018) Cite this as: BMJ 2018;361:k2332
  1. Adrian O’Dowd
  1. London

Around £240m (€274m; $320m) of taxpayers’ money has been spent on government inquiries since 2005, but evidence that recommendations from these high profile investigations have been adopted is lacking, the UK public spending watchdog has concluded.

The report by the National Audit Office into government funded inquiries, including those on NHS matters, describes uncertainty and variation in the relative costs of inquiries, the effects they had, and how they were carried out.1

In all, the watchdog found that the government spent at least £239m on the 26 inquiries that have concluded since 2005 and that they lasted on average 40 months.

It focused on 10 inquiries started and concluded since 2005, when a new legislative framework …

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