Thursday
19th March, 10am, Grimond Room, Portcullis
House
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will scrutinise the
Restoration and Renewal of Parliament (R&R) in a session with
senior responsible officials, with a preceding separate panel
exploring insights from the work of the National Audit Office
(NAO), from 10.00 on Thursday 19th
March.
The first panel will explore insights from the NAO's audit work
with senior Treasury officials, as well as the Environment Agency
(EA) as a good practice example. The EA strengthened its asset
management approach in response to previous audits, achieving its
first clear audit opinion for six years in 2024-25.
The Committee will then move to its second panel on R&R at
11.00. Engineers concluded 26 years ago that a
significant amount of services plant and equipment needed
replacing in the Palace within 5-10 years, with ongoing
maintenance deemed uneconomic. In 2023, the PAC
warned of a real and rising risk that the Palace of Westminster
would be destroyed by a catastrophic event before it is restored.
The R&R Client Board published its costed proposals in
February, with estimates ranging from £11.1bn to £56.3bn with a
full duration of works ranging from 19 to 84 years, depending how
far the Commons and Lords choose to remain on-site during the
works. Later this year, both Houses will be asked to agree a
motion on the way forward.
Ahead of the vote, the PAC will scrutinise the options paper with
officials, with a view to collecting evidence to inform the
choice of members of both Houses. The session will likely see
discussion of the overall proposed approach for R&R, which
has recommended the House vote this year to start preparatory
work with whether Parliament leaves during delivery or not to be
decided in the next Parliament.
Other likely topics include the accuracy of cost estimates and
how to ensure R&R stays on budget and on schedule, as well as
an assessment of the current MP-led governance approach.
Panel One from 10am on NAO financial audit insights
2024-25
-
CB, Permanent Secretary at
HM Treasury
- Andrew Cartner, Deputy Head of the Government Finance
Function at HM Treasury
- Philip Duffy, Chief Executive at Environment Agency
Panel Two from c.11am on Restoration &
Renewal
- Charlotte Simmonds, Managing Director at Restoration and
Renewal Client Team
- Russ MacMillan, Chief Executive at Palace of Westminster
Restoration and Renewal Delivery Authority
