Severance payments: A guide for the public sector
March 2012: This guide is intended to help public sector employers when considering making a severance payment to a departing employee...
Good practice guides
A list of our reports that describe good practice for different aspects of an entity's operations.
Severance payments: A guide for the public sector
Guidance for members of local authorities about the local authorities (Members' Interests) Act 1968
October 2010: This guide is intended for members of local authorities. It focuses on the requirements of the Act that apply to members in decision-making at authority meetings and the capacity of members to contract with the authority of which they are a member...
Charging fees for public sector goods and services
June 2008: This guide is intended for all public entities that have statutory authority to charge fees for the goods and services that they are obliged to provide...
Procurement guidance for public entities
June 2008: This guide outlines our view of the good practice that public entities should use to procure goods or services...
Public sector purchases, grants, and gifts: Managing funding arrangements with external parties
June 2008: The aim of this guide is to help public entities make informed decisions and manage risks when funding an external party...
Managing conflicts of interest: Guidance for public entities
June 2007: This guidance will be useful for all public entities, and relevant not only to people who exercise governance and management roles, but to everyone who works for or with a public entity...
Controlling sensitive expenditure: Guidelines for public entities
February 2007: These guidelines are our view of good practice that public entities should use to control sensitive expenditure. The guidelines outline expectations and guidance that we may use when carrying out performance audits or inquiries, or in annual financial audits...
Local authority codes of conduct
June 2006: The Local Government Act 2002 created a new legal requirement for each local authority to adopt a code of conduct for its elected members. We examined councils' experiences in developing and using their codes...
Good Practice for Managing Public Communications by Local Authorities
April 2004: Local authorities will have to determine what practical application they make of our good practice guidance in particular situations. We recommend that the adoption and application of the guidance in this publication be incorporated in a formal communications policy...
Managing the Relationship Between a Local Authority's Elected Members and its Chief Executive
July 2002: In this report, the key aspect that we examined was how elected members and their chief executive manage their relationship in the grey area between governance and administration. Difficulties in managing that part of the relationship appear to be a common cause of problems between councils and their chief executive. We suggest ways in which this situation might be improved...
Governance and Oversight of Large Information Technology Projects
April 2000: The report is in three main sections. Governance and accountability is covered in Part One. Understanding IT projects is the subject of Part Two. It describes the environment within which IT projects operate, and the normal stages of projects. It discusses key issues with the conduct of IT projects, and concludes by commenting on project risks. Reasons for project success and failure are covered in Part Three...