44th Report - Governance and decision-making on major projects

Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee HC 642 10 September 2025
Report Status Government responded
Conclusions & Recommendations 30 items (21 recs)
Source View on Parliament website
Government Response (AI assessment · 30 of 30 classified)
Accepted 26
Deferred 4
Government response
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forty-Fourth report from Session 2024-26 · published 19 Jan 2026
Read the government response ↗ Response on the tracker
Clear

Recommendations & Conclusions

4 results
7 Conclusion Deferred
Mega-projects receive overall funding approval, with annual budgets subject to departmental reprofiling.
Conclusion
We asked the Treasury about when major and mega projects are given the approval to proceed and who makes these announcements. The role the Treasury plays in decisions about whether and how to proceed with a mega- project, its purpose … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government refers to the OVFM study published in June 2025, setting out a new bespoke approach to funding and governance for mega projects, and states the Treasury will provide an update on its effectiveness.
HM Treasury
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8 Conclusion Deferred
Treasury proposes extended feasibility and staged approvals for mega-projects to enhance delivery reliability.
Conclusion
The Treasury told us that, following from the OVFM’s report, for mega- projects it proposes to fund a feasibility stage which will be necessarily long enough to clarify objectives and go through the various business case processes, before setting out … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government refers to the OVFM study published in June 2025, setting out a new bespoke approach to funding and governance for mega projects, and states the Treasury will provide an update on its effectiveness.
HM Treasury
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10 Conclusion Deferred
Feasibility stage aims to prevent early announcements and clarify mega-project governance frameworks.
Conclusion
We asked how government will prevent projects being announced too early, noting that politicians are a factor. The OVFM told us that this feasibility stage will try to address this by setting out how governance is going to work, with … Read more
Government Response Summary
The Treasury will write to the Committee with an update on the effectiveness of the new bespoke approach to funding and governance as set out in the Office for Value for Money (OVFM) study.
HM Treasury
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11 Conclusion Deferred
Treasury assumes greater supervisory role for mega-projects with NISTA panel advising approval.
Conclusion
We asked the Treasury to outline what its new supervisory role is going to be for mega-projects. The Treasury explained that it will have a greater role in the governance of mega-projects by requesting a seat at the board and, … Read more
Government Response Summary
The Treasury will write to the Committee with an update on the effectiveness of the new bespoke approach to funding and governance as set out in the Office for Value for Money (OVFM) study.
HM Treasury
View Details