Thursday
26th June, 10am, Grimond Room, Portcullis House
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will scrutinise governance
and decision-making on government's major projects on
Thursday 26th June at 10am.
Major projects such as HS2 and the New Hospital Programme are
examples of projects that indicate there is a problem with
governance in Whitehall. The National Audit Office (NAO) has
suggested that the largest, riskiest and most complex major
projects, which it defined as ‘mega projects', are arguably too
large for their risks to be manageable by the relevant
departments and arms-length bodies. Each phase of these kinds of
mega-project is likely to be more complex and uncertain, with a
greater likelihood for decisions to be reopened, and multiple
stakeholders involved.
The PAC's evidence session will hear from senior officials at HM
Treasury and the National Infrastructure and Service
Transformation Authority, as well as from , the independent Chair of
the recently-established Office for Value for Money. It will
explore why so many problems are regularly seen with governance,
oversight and decision-making on the biggest projects, as well as
whether HM Treasury should take more ownership and accountability
for major projects as their ultimate funder.
The NAO further found that there is often political pressure on
major projects to get started quickly, sometimes so that progress
can be announced, or to fit a spending review or electoral cycle.
This can mean that it is often not possible for decision-makers
to fully understand a project's risk and uncertainty, and the PAC
will likely explore how such projects can be announced and
committed to only once they are known to be feasible.
Witnesses
From 10am:
-
CB, Permanent Secretary, HM
Treasury (HMT)
-
, Independent Chair at
Office for Value for Money
- Nick Donlevy, Director of Public Spending at HMT
- David Lunn, Interim Director of Corporate Finance at HMT
- Jon Loveday, Director of Infrastructure, Enterprise and
Growth at National Infrastructure and Service Transformation
Authority (NISTA)
