1Introduction
1.The Government invests billions of pounds of public money in its major projects. The most complex and largest of these projects are included in the Government’s Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP), overseen by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA), a joint Cabinet Office-HM Treasury agency. 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. The projects in the GMPP currently have a cumulative cost of £423 billion and it is claimed that these will deliver £657 billion of benefits to the country. The National Audit Office (NAO) has suggested that the value of projects outside the GMPP might be as much as double those in the GMPP, but it was impossible to estimate a figure with any degree of certainty.1 Clearly, the effectiveness with which Government designs and the efficiency with which it delivers its projects have both significant risks and sizeable rewards.
2.Yet there are concerns that the money has not always been used as effectively as it might be. Delays and cost-overruns on high profile projects have been common and they have often have not delivered the promised benefits either. Recent delays to high profile projects such as Crossrail, the cost escalation for the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project, and the under-delivery of anticipated benefits by the Cabinet Office’s Verify digital identification project continue to fuel such concerns.
3.The Committee launched an inquiry into the Government’s management of its major projects on 10 October 2018. The purpose of the inquiry was not to conduct autopsies into individual, high profile projects that have experienced problems—that is the responsibility of the Public Accounts Committee and for the relevant departmental Select Committees—but to take stock of the steps taken at the centre of government to improve the delivery of projects across departments.2
4.The decision to hold an early General Election has curtailed our inquiry into this important topic whilst we were still gathering evidence and before we have been able to consider our conclusions and recommendations. By necessity, this report can only highlight a few of the main issues that have emerged in the evidence we have received to date and some of our initial impressions. We recommend that our successor Committee returns to this important matter at the earliest opportunity.
5.In the course of the inquiry to date, we held five evidence sessions and received 28 written submissions. A list of those contributing evidence is included at the end of this report. We thank all those who contributed to the inquiry.
1 NAO Delivering Major Projects in Government HC 713 Session 2015–16, p.5
2 The Cabinet Office does have its own projects included in the GMPP. Nonetheless, we have focussed on its efforts to improve project management across Government.
Published: 5 November 2019