UK Inquiry Tracker

Lessons from major projects and programmes

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 5 Nov 2020 Closed: 25 Mar 2021 Parliament page

The Government Major Projects Portfolio currently comprises 125 major programmes at a combined cost of £448 billion - and in addition, government has committed to spending £640 billion for new infrastructure projects between now and 2025. The ability of government to successfully navigate the unique and novel challenges of delivering … Read more

29 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

2 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 6 events

16 Nov
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Alex Chisholm, Civil Service Chief Operating Officer and Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, and Catherine Little, Dire…

14 Sep
2021

Correspondence

Written evidence submitted by Amit Bhagwat

26 Mar
2021

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty ninth report from Session 2019-21

29 Jan
2021

Report published

Thirty-Ninth Report - Lessons from major projects and programmes

30 Nov
2020

Oral evidence

Lessons from major projects and programmes

30 Nov
2020

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House

Lessons from major projects and programmes

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

30 Nov 2020

View on parliament.uk

Lessons from major projects and programmes

Matthew Vickerstaff · NISTA Nick Smallwood · Infrastructure and Projects Authority

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Thirty-Ninth Report - Lessons from major projects and programmes	HC 694	29 Jan 2021	29	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

29 results

2 Conclusion

Thirty-Ninth Report - Lessons from…

We are concerned about the continued lack of transparency to Parliament about the progress of...

We are concerned about the continued lack of transparency to Parliament about the progress of government projects. This Committee has examined many programmes where issues were emerging for some time that only became public knowledge much later. For example, the … Read more We are concerned about the continued lack of transparency to Parliament about the progress of government projects. This Committee has examined many programmes where issues were emerging for some time that only became public knowledge much later. For example, the Committee was kept in the dark for over a year before being told about the difficulties on the High Speed Two programme, and the programme now reports to Parliament half-yearly as a result of our work. The IPA agrees that creating a culture of openness and transparency is critical to effective project delivery. However, data on individual programmes can be poor, and there can be trade-offs to manage between commercial confidentiality and public transparency. Departmental processes for publishing information, such as in annual reports, may be delayed and/or inconsistent with information presented elsewhere in government. While the IPA states that it has good quarterly reporting in the GMPP and in its annual report, there is a time lag between the reported data and what’s happening on a project. As a result, we question whether this is useful for helping Parliament or the public to understand how major projects are progressing. The NIC told us that GMPP project business cases, outturn costs and schedules and other long-term evaluations will now be published from April 2021, which we welcome. Recommendation: HM Treasury and Cabinet Office must set out what they are doing to make sure that information on the progress of major projects is transparent and reported to Parliament in a more timely manner, particularly 6 Lessons from major projects and programmes for those projects that are nationally important. They should also set out what they are doing to make sure that all Accounting Officers comply with the rules around making assessments of major projects (against the criteria of propriety, regularity, feasibility and VFM) and to publish summaries of this advice on a timely basis. The Committee reminds all AOs Show less

Government Response

2. 1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: July 2021 2.2 The IPA recognises that, to enable effective parliamentary scrutiny, the right type and amount of … Read more

HM Treasury

Lessons from major projects and programmes

Activity timeline 6 events

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Recommendations & Conclusions

We are concerned about the continued lack of transparency to Parliament about the progress of...

We welcome the IPA’s plans to strengthen how it assures government’s major projects and the...

There is scope for a more mature approach to setting and monitoring cost and schedule...

The calibre and number of people in leadership positions in major projects is still not...

It is vital that Parliament’s own major project, the Restoration and Renewal programme, is an...

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...

We asked about the capacity of both government and the private sector to deliver large...

The NIC stated that new economic infrastructure must take a cross-sectoral, evidence- based and long-term...

Within the National Infrastructure Strategy, the government also announced the initiatives that had come out...

Government has also made changes to its Green Book guidance on evaluating investment proposals, such...

In discussing the historic performance on managing major programmes and the challenges they have faced,...

The NIC agreed, stating that when building infrastructure, government needs to spend sufficient time at...

The IPA stated that it is working with government to improve the quality of cost...

The IPA and NIC stated that programmes should provide a reasonable range of outcomes for...

Skills and leadership remain a persistent problem in delivering major projects.

However, the IPA stated that many SROs manage more than one programme, and typically have...

The IPA told us that, to remedy this issue, in addition to making attendance at...

This Committee has examined many government programmes where problems had arisen and were known by...

The IPA agreed that creating a culture of transparency and openness are the foundations of...

Projects need good data to appropriately track programme performance, but the underlying data which communicates...

The IPA stated that releasing all data at the detailed level would cause issues within...

The IPA provides a range of assurance and support services to major programmes, with one...

The IPA considers that while its gateway review process is good, government has not always...

The IPA pointed to the Lower Thames Crossing as a recent example of where it...

We noted that the number of projects rated as red has increased from four to...

The IPA told us that it is looking to introduce metrics to help it understand...

Since the IPA’s remit covers the government major programmes portfolio, it does not extend to...

Whilst the IPA has provided support and advice in an advisory capacity to the programme,...

When asked, the IPA stated that it could not see a reason why it could...

Correspondence 2 letters