Summary
The Government spends billions of pounds on major projects annually. These include major, high profile construction and defence projects but also significant investments in new technology designed to improve the way in which Government operates. These are projected to yield billions of pounds of benefits to taxpayers so the effectiveness with which Government designs and delivers its projects has both significant risks and sizeable rewards.
The decision to hold an early election has curtailed the Committee’s inquiry into this important issue before it had completed its evidence-gathering. Consequently, this interim report can only summarise some of the emergent themes and the Committee’s initial impressions. The report’s main recommendation is that the successor Committee returns to this important issue.
The issue of Civil Service capability is one that the Committee has addressed in previous reports. Project delivery has been one of the areas prioritised for improvement. This has been through the cross-departmental Project Delivery Function and Profession and the Major Projects Leadership Academy. It appears that this is having a beneficial effect. However, progress can be undermined by excessive churn on project teams. There have been improvements in reducing churn, but it remains a concern.
The importance of the early planning of major projects is a major factor in determining their successful delivery. The Government has in place an extensive framework of scrutiny and assurance of project plans. However, political pressure can sometimes circumscribe this scrutiny. That will lead to projects that are poorly conceived and delivered.
There has been considerable effort to improve the delivery of Government projects. However, good project delivery is not an end in itself and the purpose of projects is to deliver benefits to the public. But, too little attention is paid to whether these benefits are actually realised. More systematic scrutiny of the extent to which projects achieve the anticipated benefits is required.
Published: 5 November 2019