Use of European Union funds in promoting information society
Development Plan, and not paid enough attention on improving the competitiveness of companies and supporting the IT development projects that are aimed at the third sector. Also, the selection of IT projects ... The National Audit Office audited the use of the aid allocated from the structural funds of the European Union (hereinafter EU aid) in the information technology (IT) area of the state. The National ... Audit Office checked whether the distribution of funds for the development of the information society has been balanced and transparent, and whether the distribution of aid is adequately supervised ... Riigikontroll auditeeris Euroopa Liidu struktuurifondidest ehk tõukefondidest eraldatud toetuste (edaspidi ELi toetusraha) kasutamist riigi infotehnoloogia (IT) valdkonnas. Uuriti, kas raha jagamine ... infoühiskonna arendamise eesmärgil on olnud tasakaalustatud ja läbipaistev ning kas toetuste jagamise üle tehakse piisavat järelevalvet. Riigikontrolli hinnangul on riik infoühiskonna arengukava rakendamiseks ... toetuste jagamisel keskendunud liiga riigile suunatud IT-arenduste rahastamisele ning jätnud tagaplaanile ettevõtete konkurentsivõime parandamisele ja kolmandale sektorile suunatud IT arendusprojektide ... Balance needed for success of Information Society Development Plan ... 50% of aid has been granted primarily for the development of information systems of state agencies, i.e. as much as the other two target groups - business and citizens - put together. Information ... , true suppervision and measurement of progress are listed by the Estonian SAI as next key elements necessary to keep balanced development of strategy for Information Society.
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Use of consultants and temporary staff
New skills needed in a longer term UK NAO: Used well, consultants and temporary staff can be an important source of specialist skills and capabilities that are uneconomic for departments to maintain in their permanent staff. Since 2009-10, the government has used spending controls to reduce its use of consultants and temporary staff, and by 2014-15 spending had fallen by £1.5 billion. However, spending has increased by between £400 million and £600 million since 2011-12, suggesting that this was more of a short-term reduction than a sustainable strategy. In the longer term, departments will need to develop workforce, skills and capacity plans to reduce their dependence on external skills. They will need to improve their strategic workforce planning to determine where they can deploy existing staff, where they need to recruit, and where they need to engage temporary resources. Without this, departments cannot demonstrate that they are achieving value for money from the use of consultants and temporary staff.
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