Recommendation RHI-11: Project Management Disciplines
From The Report of the Independent Public Inquiry into the Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) Scheme, published 13 March 2020.
Recommendation
Best practice project and risk management disciplines should be the default practice within the Northern Ireland Civil Service when developing novel and complex policies and managing their implementation. These disciplines can be widely applied and should not be confined only to major or capital projects. They can be tailored to the specific circumstances of an initiative and are especially important when implementing policies designed to change behaviour or to make incentive payments to individuals or businesses. If there is insufficient resource to implement adequate project management then projects should not proceed.
In brief (written by this site)
The Inquiry recommended embedding project and risk management disciplines across the Northern Ireland Civil Service. In October 2021, the Northern Ireland Executive accepted the recommendation in full, reporting updated project delivery guidance and risk management training, while noting that establishing a project delivery profession and reforming risk culture remained outstanding (Northern Ireland Executive response, Oct 2021). In October 2024, the Northern Ireland Audit Office found that the recommendation had been implemented (Northern Ireland Audit Office, Oct 2024).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 1 Oct 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
About this summary
This recommendation asks for cultural or behavioural change, which is difficult to verify from published sources alone. The record reflects policy commitments rather than measured outcomes.
Government response
These recommendations can be accepted in full.
They have been addressed in work to date through:
• strengthening of policy and guidance relating to project delivery;
• work to establish the new NICS Project Delivery Profession;
• accredited practitioner-level training in the Management of Risk methodology, available via NICSHR Learning & Development;
• amendment to the Treasury Orange Book (Risk Management);
• the Review of Business Case and Expenditure Approval processes;
• agreement by the NICS Board on the principles and procedures for use of SIB.
Further work is required to:
• Establish the NICS Project Delivery Profession
• Ensure that all Departments have in place a P3O Office, as set out in DAO 02/20
• Bring forward proposals for the implementation of Portfolio Management
• Implement the IPA’s ‘Get to Green’ refresh of GatewayTM and wider Assurance Reviews
• reform behaviours and culture to ensure a greater focus on risk management;
• improve the way in which departments work with Invest NI and SIB, ensuring that that partnership dovetails with GatewayTM and existing guidance on the obligations of the SRO;
• improve the reporting of risks to Ministers;
• develop cross-departmental collaboration and coordination through the PfG outcomes-based approach and the promotion of collaborative behaviours;
• ensure senior ownership of governance arrangements with third parties.
How this response relates to the recommendation
Site note: These are the Northern Ireland Executive's words from Annex A, "Summary of Recommendations and Response", published on this page with the Executive Response to the RHI Inquiry Report Recommendations and Action Plan on 7 October 2021, the day the Executive agreed it. The Department of Finance publishes the response, but it is the Executive's, so the site records it under the Executive. The annex is a PDF that the publisher asks automated readers not to fetch, so the site cites the page that links it.
Site note: Annex A gives this passage once, for the recommendations under its heading "PROFESSIONAL SKILLS: PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND RISK MANAGEMENT": recommendations 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16. It is the Executive's response to the group, not to this recommendation alone.
Delivery
No statement on delivery from Northern Ireland Executive has been found in the sources searched (last checked 31 January 2026). This is separate from the response above.
What other bodies have found
In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.
NI Audit Office (15 October 2024)
Implemented.
Site note: This is the Northern Ireland Audit Office's assessment, from Appendix 4 of its second report on the Inquiry's recommendations (15 October 2024), the column "2024 NIAO Assessment". The Audit Office monitors implementation at the Inquiry's request; its assessment is shown beside the Executive's own account and does not set the recommendation's status.
Source
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Northern Ireland Executive
Response - NI Audit Office
Finding