Delivering value from government investment in major projects

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 10 Jan 2024 Closed: 29 May 2024 Parliament page
Both the Committee and the National Audit Office (NAO) scrutinise how major projects are delivered, including inquiries on resetting of Government programmes and lessons from major projects and programmes . As part of this theme, the NAO’s report on delivering value from Government investment in major programmes looks at a … Read more
5 Recommendations
17 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
1 Letter
1 Event
Activity timeline 4 events
15 May
2024
Report published
15 Apr
2024
Correspondence
20 Mar
2024
Oral evidence
20 Mar
2024
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
20 Mar 2024
View on parliament.uk
Delivering value from government investment in major projects
Conrad Smewing · HM Treasury Nick Smallwood · Infrastructure and Projects Authority
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering value from government investme… HC 456 15 May 2024 22 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
22 results
2 Recommendation Not Addressed
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Develop a plan to incentivise departments to conduct high-quality, independent major project evaluations.
Government departments still have few incentives to commission and carry out high-quality evaluations of major projects. High quality evaluation is an important means of providing evidence about what works, transparency about what value a project has produced, and making the … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation to develop a plan for incentivising evaluations, but its response discusses supplier and market engagement with SMEs and TechUK, which is irrelevant to the committee's specific request for an evaluation plan.
HM Treasury
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3 Recommendation Not Addressed
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Analyse and issue guidance on governance for effective cross-government major projects.
There are signs of improved cross-government working but government still struggles to establish effective governance and accountability arrangements on the most complex projects where multiple departments are involved. In our February 2024 report on cross-government working in general we concluded … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation to analyze governance structures for cross-government working and issue guidance. However, its response focuses on the existing Digital, Data and Technology Playbook for managing digital projects, rather than addressing the broader request for general cross-government working guidance.
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4 Recommendation Accepted
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Submit analysis of skills shortage risks to government's infrastructure project portfolio.
Government departments and the broader economy lack the necessary skills and capacity to deliver the government’s ambitious portfolio of major infrastructure projects. The UK’s projected spend on infrastructure projects over the next five years is very high—unprecedented, according to the … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees to the recommendation and will provide further detail to the Committee in December, aligning with a target implementation date of December 2025.
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5 Recommendation Accepted
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Outline plans to incentivise departments to populate IPA benchmarking hub with project data.
The IPA’s plans to improve the quality of government’s cost estimates of major projects have taken too long to implement. We have examined many projects Delivering value from government investment in major projects 7 where early cost estimates have proved … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation and will provide further detail to the Committee in December, consistent with the target implementation date.
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6 Recommendation Not Addressed
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Outline plans for embedding cross-government learning in future major projects.
Government departments do not routinely learn lessons from their own projects or those of other departments, so are missing opportunities to improve effectiveness and efficiency of future projects. Applying learning about what has been successful in major project delivery can … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation to outline plans for embedding cross-government learning. However, its response outlines reviews of commercial and digital functional standards, development of a standard taxonomy, and reviews of controls and assurance frameworks, which are not direct plans for cross-government learning.
HM Treasury
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1 Conclusion Not Addressed
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Committee took evidence from IPA and HM Treasury based on C&AG report.
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Infrastructure and Projects Authority and HM Treasury.1
Government Response
The committee item is a factual statement about taking evidence from the IPA and HM Treasury. The government responds by agreeing to the 'recommendation' and detailing actions related to digital functions, a Technical Design Authority, and strategic supplier relationship management, which is irrelevant to the original statement.
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7 Conclusion Not Addressed
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
High-quality evaluation essential for robust evidence, transparency, and delivering project value.
High quality evaluation is an important means of providing evidence about what works and transparency about what value a project has produced. In our May 2022 report on government’s use of evaluation and modelling, we stated: “Without the right incentives, … Read more
Government Response
Despite stating agreement, the government's response details its efforts to encourage international collaboration on antimicrobial products and antibiotic innovation, including commissioning an evaluability assessment from July 2025 to early 2026. This does not address the committee's conclusion on the importance of high-quality evaluation for major government projects.
HM Treasury
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8 Conclusion Not Addressed
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Insufficient evaluations of government major projects, with significant departmental gaps remaining.
There are too few evaluations of government’s major projects. As we pointed out in our May 2022 report on the use of evaluation and modelling in government, in 2019, only 8% of £432 billion of spend on major projects had … Read more
Government Response
Despite stating agreement, the government's response focuses entirely on making public health a statutory objective for water companies, regulating sludge, and tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in wastewater, with a White Paper planned for Autumn 2025. This does not address the committee's conclusion about the lack of evaluations for major government projects.
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9 Conclusion Not Addressed
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Persistent barriers, including political disengagement, continue to hinder effective departmental project evaluations.
In our May 2022 report on evaluation, we pointed out that the same barriers to departments doing more evaluations had been in place since 2013. These include a lack of political engagement and a lack of incentives for departments to … Read more
Government Response
Despite stating agreement, the government's response details actions related to monitoring healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in humans and animals, including a new data dashboard from UKHSA by Autumn 2025 and novel AMR surveillance pilots in animals until 2029. This does not address the committee's conclusion about barriers to government project evaluations.
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10 Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Success of major government projects depends on multi-organisation collaboration and shared stakeholder vision.
Although it is often the case that a single government department has ultimate accountability for delivery of a major project, it is often the case that multiple departments as well other stakeholders and organisations will be involved in delivery and … Read more
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11 Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
External organisations can effectively deliver project value and regeneration benefits beyond the delivery team.
For some projects it may be more effective for an organisation outside of the project delivery team to be accountable for delivering the value from the project. On two of the projects referred to in the C&AG’s report development corporations … Read more
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12 Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Departments still struggle to naturally achieve effective cross-government working and consistent stakeholder involvement.
In our February 2024 report on cross-government working we concluded that “effective cross-government working is fundamental to delivering government’s priorities but there is a lot of work to do to make it more than just a ‘nice to have’”. However, … Read more
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13 Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Broad stakeholder engagement and independent non-executive presence enhances successful major project delivery.
The IPA gave us examples where the involvement of stakeholders has been working well. For example, the East-West Rail project’s growth board that brings together local authority and government department and the A303 and Lower Thames Crossing projects have built … Read more
HM Treasury
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14 Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
The UK faces unprecedented scale of projected major infrastructure investment over the next five years.
As set out above, in March 2023, the value of the Government Major Projects Portfolio in terms of total whole-life costs was £805 billion. With major projects in the transport and energy sectors and programmes or projects to build new … Read more
HM Treasury
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15 Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Major projects confront significant skills shortages and international competition, risking higher costs and delays.
However, the IPA told us that it is already seeing evidence of current and future skills shortages and stiff competition from other countries with their own major investment programmes for scarce skills. The IPA gave specific examples of skills shortages … Read more
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16 Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Insufficient civil service project management skills create over-reliance on external supply chains, weakening departments.
The IPA told us that there remains a lack of project management skills in the civil service and that there are particular shortages in technical and engineering skills. This lack of skills places too much reliance on the supply chain … Read more
HM Treasury
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17 Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Government optimism bias and premature project approvals lead to persistently inaccurate cost estimates.
We have examined numerous projects over the years where cost estimates have increased significantly over the life of the project. Optimism bias in government is a significant factor in nearly every project we look at. Another, related, factor is a … Read more
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18 Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Insufficient government cost-estimation capability leads to reliance on suppliers; new tools lack necessary data.
Lack of cost-estimation capability in government means that government is reliant on suppliers to government defining what a project will cost. The IPA told us that cost estimation is an important skill and one that government departments need to be … Read more
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19 Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Successful major project delivery learning significantly improves efficiency and reduces costs for government.
Applying learning about what has been successful in major project delivery can bring great efficiency and reduced costs. The C&AG’s report, and other lessons learned reports like it, as well as those produced by this Committee are useful resources for … Read more
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20 Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Increased standardisation in major project design offers cost savings but needs sufficient investment scale.
The IPA told us that increased standardisation of design of some projects can be a helpful way to learn and apply what has worked well. The IPA told us that the schools, 18 Qq 70; Committee of Public Accounts, HS2 … Read more
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21 Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
Learning lessons from diverse major projects is challenging given poor data sharing and specific objectives.
In our February 2024 report on cross-government working we highlighted that a lack of routine data sharing between departments and poor arrangements for sharing best practice and learning. Learning lessons from major projects can, however, be a challenge because of … Read more
HM Treasury
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22 Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering …
IPA could strengthen its challenge to departments on cross-project learning, despite some improvements.
The IPA told us it could do more to challenge departments to learn from one project to another. The IPA did, however, point to areas where learning is improving in government. For example, the IPA chairs the Government Construction Board, … Read more
HM Treasury
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Government Response AI assessment · 9 of 5 classified
Accepted 2
Not Addressed 7
Total 5 recs + 17 conclusions
Correspondence 1 letter
15 Apr 2024 Correspondence from Nick Smallwood, CEO at the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, Cabinet Office, re Follow up to the PAC hearing on delivering value from government investment in major projects (20/03/2024), dated 26 March 2024
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