Focus investigations at the Netherlands Court of Audit
Enhancing relevance and impact through rapid, responsive investigations
In a fast-moving, dynamic and complex world, Supreme Audit Institutions have a duty to enhance their relevance and ensure they make a positive impact to the benefit of their stakeholders. This can require new solutions to challenges, for example a new style of investigation when traditional financial, compliance and performance audits might struggle to respond sufficiently quickly to new or emerging issues. Following the UK National Audit Office, the Netherlands Court of Audit introduced and developed a rapid and responsive investigation function.
Why do we use this method?
This type of investigation enables us to increase our adaptability, conduct research within a shorter lead time (14 weeks), respond to current or emerging issues (e.g. COVID-19) and provide facts to the public debate. Without the inclusion of any conclusions and/or recommendations, our focus investigations allow readers to form their own opinion based on facts from our report. Not only do our own colleagues recognize the added value of this product, the short reports with a defined investigation question are also well received by the media and Members of Parliament.
What does this method involve?
A focus investigation is topical, fast, focused, factual, concise and descriptive.
Topical: Focus investigations look at relevant and topical issues.
Fast: To be topical, focus investigations are carried out relatively quickly: at most 14 weeks from start to publication.
Focused: Focus investigations have a defined scope and a clear focus. This is reflected in the investigation question, which may, for example, be, ‘Is it true that…?’ (fact check).
Factual: We exercise our powers in order to bring the facts of a topical discussion to light. We therefore report only the facts (in context) and do not express any opinions and/or recommendations.
Concise and explanatory: Focus investigations culminate in concise, explanatory and clear reports.
Under the EU eco-scheme, dairy farmers in the Netherlands who do more for the climate, nature and the environment receive higher grants than those who receive only income support. Though average grant income was lower last year, dairy farmers with a gold eco-medal have retained their overall grant funding at the same level.
Supply teachers hired through an agency cost secondary schools considerably more than the teachers they employ directly. The total salary costs of an employed teacher in the common salary scale of grade 12 is €58 per hour. The average hourly fee for a supply teacher in the same scale and grade is €113 (including VAT). The Netherlands Court of Audit today presents a unique insight into supply teacher fees based on data from 84% of all secondary schools.
During the corona pandemic, businesses and the self-employed were granted tax deferrals totalling €40 billion that helped many of them to survive. Around €26 billion of these extensions have now been settled, but some €5.7 billion of the remaining €14 billion is proving problematic and may not be received in full or may largely prove impossible to collect. And the Tax and Customs Administration currently has too little capacity to pursue these cases.
Some 200,000 people suffer an accident at work every year in the Netherlands. About 60 die as a result. An estimated 4,000 people die from unhealthy working conditions every year.
The key question in the Netherlands Court of Audit’s recent investigation, Focus on Bird Flu, is, “What measures is the government taking to control the spread of bird flu and how and by whom are they being funded?”
In 2022 the Dutch government budgeted just over €500 million for the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA). In the course of the year, however, it became clear that the COA would need an additional billion euros because the number of asylum seekers and the costs incurred for them were far higher than foreseen. This is not the first time the Netherlands has had problems with the reception of asylum seekers. The COA’s expenditure has been higher than budgeted in 21 of 23 years investigated by the Netherlands Court of Audit. Why is this? The Court’s investigation places the current reception problems in a multiyear perspective.
The Netherlands Court of Audit has investigated the government’s strategic stocks and their availability during an emergency. The government keeps operational and strategic stocks of petroleum, medicines, medical aids and cash money. It does not keep strategic stocks of gas or food. Furthermore, little progress has been made with the designation of national groundwater reserves.
The Tax and Customs Administration’s approach to false self-employment in the engagement of specialists in various business sectors is meeting with little success. The Administration is making fewer and fewer checks regarding the engagement of self-employed persons. The likelihood that false self-employment will be detected is low.
Between July and October 2020, the Netherlands Court of Audit investigated what ICT tools are used by the staff of ministries and High Councils of State, for what purpose they were used, the security risks they represented and how the organisations concerned communicated their policies. Our investigation found that civil servants’ use of collaborative ICT tools sometimes put information security at risk.
The report explains the key figures, such as national income, that are used to calculate a member state’s contribution to the European Union. It outlines how the current EU funding system came into being and led to different definitions of the net payment position. It also considers the effect of the Netherlands’ contribution rebate.
Reporting only facts, we showed that Sint Maarten needs more than just financial support for its reconstruction following the devastating hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017. These hurricanes inflicted a great deal of human suffering and enormous damage to the island’s infrastructure, housing and businesses.
The cost of generating offshore wind energy is projected to fall spectacularly. Offshore wind farms were still a long way from being subsidy-free, however. These findings are presented in the Court of Audit’s focus investigation of the cost of offshore wind energy.
An audit of access to long-term care. This focus audit looked at the facts surrounding access to long-term care under the Long-Term Health Care Act (WLZ). Many conflicting stories have been spun from various studies, media reports and debates in parliament. Concerns include the complexity of access and the different responsibilities of central government and the municipalities and care insurers.
We investigated how much time passes between the moment someone makes a report and the moment the police begin to deal with it. We also looked at whether the response was slower in rural areas than in urban areas, and whether the response was slower in the summer.
Netherlands Court of Audit hosts workshop on rapid and responsive audits for European Supreme Audit Institutions
13-7-2023
In the first week of July, the Netherlands Court of Audit (NCA) organised in collaboration with the UK National Audit Office (NAO).
The workshop on rapid and responsive audits for European Supreme Audit Institutions aimed to promote impactful focus audits (or investigations). This workshop provided a platform for auditors from 17 other European SAIs to discuss the concept of focus audits and to explore effective ways of conducting them so as to enhance their relevance and impact.
