In a report published last week, the NAO warned that none of the department’s current indicators is “fit for purpose”, and identified room for improvement in the collection of data such as the number of volunteers nationally and participation in the National Citizen Service programme.
The report also says the department should stop changing its indicators, as it has “yet to produce a comprehensive, stable picture of its performance since 2010”. The NAO urges the CO to choose any further performance criteria carefully, so they won’t have to be changed again.
“The usefulness of the reported information was significantly weakened by changes in the way the measures are defined over time, absence of contextual information or explanations, and at times confusing or contradictory presentation,” it says.
The spending watchdog also calls for the CO to improve transparency by putting the data for its five ‘coalition priorities’ in a single place.