Seventh Special Report - Major transport infrastructure projects: Government Response to the Committee’s Second Report

This is the government's response, published 24 January 2022.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government accepts some recommendations, partially accepts others and disagrees with a formal mechanism for additional parliamentary scrutiny of project overruns.

• On the National Infrastructure Strategy, it "partially agrees" and says "there is not enough evidence to justify amending the NIS at this stage", while longer-term impacts of COVID-19 remain uncertain.
• It accepts the recommendations on defining "levelling up" and on a worked example. The Levelling Up White Paper will set out a definition, and the Department will publish case studies on major transport investments in 2022.
• It accepts the principle of cost and schedule ranges, but disagrees with a formal trigger for additional parliamentary scrutiny, saying existing arrangements exist and a trigger "would complicate DfT's role as Project Sponsor and duplicate the function of existing fora".
• On a transport infrastructure delivery plan, it "partially agrees" but says it does "not plan to publish a single delivery plan", pointing to other publications including a Levelling Up White Paper and the Integrated Rail Plan.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error