Protection of valuable forest

Protection of valuable forest land is an important mean of achieving the environmental quality objectives. Governments can establish formal protection of forests through the formation of national parks, biotope conservation areas, nature reserves or by signing nature conservation agreements. Beyond the state's formal protection of forests, the forest owners themselves are also expected to contribute through voluntary set-asides of forest. From a state perspective, it is important to investigate whether or not the resources for formal protection are being used cost-effectively. However, in order to achieve cost-effective formal protection work, the state also needs to address forest owners' voluntary set asides.

The protection of valuable forest

2018

The necessary environment for the efficient management of the Shared Service Center is lacking

The department's administration of the Shared Services Centre (SSC) has been effective for sharing resources between the departments and delivering selected back-office services to a small client base. However, the governance arrangements established to oversight the SSC have not positioned it well for the future and the departments have not yet determined if the arrangement is efficient and resulting in savings. ANAO found instances where the advisory board of SSC was not consulted or involved in decisions relating to the strategic direction, financial arrangements and expenditure priorities. Information reported to the board did not focus on areas of strategic importance and the quality and completeness of this information could be improved. The mechanisms established for setting out responsibilities and obligations and ensuring transparency for services delivered by the SSC was weak. Service standards and levels were not fixed and can change. The delineation of responsibilities between the SSC and its clients was not clear and there was no commitment by the SSC to certify the quality of its control framework.

The Shared Services Centre

2016

Supply of food and medicinal products

Deficiencies in emergency preparedness and weaknesses in governance are still found by the Swedish NAO in the system of safeguarding supply of food and medicinal products. The system is complex and NAO appreciates efforts made by responsible agencies. However, they found also insufficient clarity in division of responsibilities and weaknesses in coordinantion.

Supply of food and medicinal products

2018

Security to be improved in IT systems with health data

It is Rigsrevisionen’s assessment that the three regions are not protecting the access to IT systems and health data in a satisfactory manner. As a consequence, unauthorised persons might gain access to sensitive and confidential personal data, which could affect there liability and availability of important health data used in the treatment of hospital patients. Based on the results of the study and the current threat scenario, Rigsrevisionen finds that basic security measures against cyber attacks and protection of access to IT systems and health data should be a top priority for Denmark’s five regions. Basic security measures in combination with management and control of user privileges can reduce the risk of compromising the regions’ IT systems and data considerably.

The protection of IT systems and health data in three Danish regions

2018

Reporting: a real skill

The Building Public Trust Awards, sponsored by PwC, have been running for 15 years and the British NAO co-sponsors the public sector award. The Good Practices in annual reports 2016-2017 present eye-opening examples of how to make complex reports easily understandable and how to clearly outline goals and achievement of them.

Good Practice in Annual Reports 2016-17

2018