However, a Department-wide review by the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) in January 2026 found that programme and project teams across the Department were not consistently applying lessons they had identified.25 We asked the Department how it was responding to the finding. It told us the review found clear and well-designed lessons learned frameworks, but that consistent application of lessons was most challenging on smaller programmes with less dedicated resource. The Department confirmed it was the Permanent Secretary’s responsibility to ensure this consistency across all programmes, and the Northern Powerhouse Rail Senior Responsible Owner’s responsibility to ensure lessons were applied on the programme. It also told us the GIAA was reasonably positive about Northern Powerhouse Rail’s approach to learning and applying lessons, and that it had “the right basics in place” for turning “a very long set of lessons from multiple programmes over multiple decades into a clear action plan”.26