Recommendations & Conclusions
13 items
2
Recommendation
Twenty-Fourth Report - Redevelopment of…
Accepted
The Department has allowed the Weybridge site to deteriorate to a completely unacceptable degree, through a combination of inadequate management and under investment. The Department has not managed the Weybridge site as an important national asset. It has not had a long-term strategic plan for the site and has under …
Government response. The government agreed and stated that Asset Management lessons learnt have been included in the procurement for the new Workplace and Facilities Management contract, and that the Weybridge site will have a dedicated Technical Services team with an increase of …
HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
Twenty-Fourth Report - Redevelopment of…
Accepted
The Weybridge site is continually vulnerable to a major breakdown which would severely impact the APHA’s operations including responding to disease outbreaks. The Department and the APHA rate the risk of a major breakdown of facilities at the Weybridge site as high. The potential risk was illustrated by a 2014 …
Government response. The government agreed and will stress test their contingency plans and are regularly reviewing plans and running critical incident exercises, and is also in conversation with other cross government laboratories and partners.
HM Treasury
4
Recommendation
Twenty-Fourth Report - Redevelopment of…
Accepted
It is not yet certain that there will be sufficient investment in developing Weybridge’s capacity to ensure the UK’s long-term resilience to animal diseases. It is vital that the UK has the right science facilities to ensure its long-term resilience to animal diseases. The APHA is confident it could respond …
Government response. The government agreed and will work with HM Treasury to establish a more certain funding position, refine its understanding of costs and benefits, and update the Committee via Treasury Minutes; £198 million has been allocated for preparatory work.
HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
Twenty-Fourth Report - Redevelopment of…
Accepted
There remains substantial uncertainty over the costs of the Weybridge redevelopment programme. In developing its Programme Business Case the Department did more detailed work to understand the costs of the Programme. This increased its cost estimate from £1.2 billion in its Outline Business Case (March Redevelopment of Defra’s animal health …
Government response. The government agreed and will continue to develop its cost estimate, introduce cost ranges, and reflect uncertainty in those costings for the main investment decision in 2024.
HM Treasury
7
Recommendation
Twenty-Fourth Report - Redevelopment of…
Accepted
The redevelopment of Weybridge is a large construction programme with a range of commercial risks that will need careful management. The Weybridge redevelopment programme will have a range of contracts covering professional services and construction. The Department recognises the challenges of integrating a large number of contracts. It is looking …
Government response. The government agreed and stated that Commercial Strategy Phase II has been endorsed by the SCAH Programme Board and that by May 2023, the programme will have options around Science Hub form of contract and competition.
HM Treasury
25
Recommendation
Twenty-Fourth Report - Redevelopment of…
Accepted
The Department stated that its Programme Business Case had set out a number of options about the size and number of laboratories and the level of containment. Both the Department and the APHA said that they saw ACDP level four capability as important in underpinning the UK’s animal disease resilience. …
Government response. The government agrees to work with HM Treasury to establish a more certain funding position for the Weybridge redevelopment program and will refine its understanding of the costs and benefits, required by Summer 2024, and allocated £198 million for preparatory …
HM Treasury
28
Recommendation
Twenty-Fourth Report - Redevelopment of…
Accepted
The Department acknowledged that there remains substantial uncertainty over its cost estimate. In particular, there are a lot of risks in undertaking this redevelopment programme on an operational site and more work is needed to understand these risks and the costs of mitigating them.52 The Department set out some of …
Government response. The government agrees to continue developing its cost estimate for the Weybridge redevelopment programme, clarifying uncertainties and using cost ranges, with a target implementation date of Summer 2024.
HM Treasury
29
Recommendation
Twenty-Fourth Report - Redevelopment of…
Accepted
The Department said that its Programme Business Case had built in substantial allowance for inflation, approximately £360 million over the lifetime of the redevelopment programme. It stated that for the current phase of the programme up to 2024 it was confident it had the money it needed to do the …
Government response. The government agrees to continue developing its cost estimate for the Weybridge redevelopment programme, including the use of cost ranges to illustrate the level of uncertainty. Target implementation date is Summer 2024.
HM Treasury
30
Recommendation
Twenty-Fourth Report - Redevelopment of…
Accepted
The Department accepted that it had used single point estimates for its Programme Business Case cost estimate rather than ranges. The National Audit Office highlighted that the IPA considers the use of ranges as best practice. The Department confirmed that it intends to use ranges going forward for both its …
Government response. The government agrees to continue developing its cost estimate for the Weybridge redevelopment programme, clarifying uncertainties and using cost ranges, with a target implementation date of Summer 2024.
HM Treasury
32
Recommendation
Twenty-Fourth Report - Redevelopment of…
Accepted
The Department stated that the Weybridge redevelopment programme is very high on its risk register and is part of its major programmes portfolio. As a result, it sees the programme as a priority area for staffing.59 The National Audit Office highlighted the challenges the Department is having recruiting staff to …
Government response. The government agrees to ensure that it has the right staff capability and capacity to deliver the Weybridge redevelopment programme, including a review of capacity and capability requirements for the full lifecycle of the programme. Target implementation date: June 2023
HM Treasury
33
Recommendation
Twenty-Fourth Report - Redevelopment of…
Accepted
We asked the Department about progress it has made on the Government’s request to draw up plans to reduce staff numbers and how the Weybridge redevelopment programme would be accommodated within these plans. The Department stated that it is in the early stages of its planning and is modelling some …
Government response. The government agrees to ensure the Weybridge redevelopment programme has sufficient staff capability and capacity and will report back on its plans after finalising wider staff reduction plans, with a target implementation date of June 2023. The programme continues to …
HM Treasury
34
Recommendation
Twenty-Fourth Report - Redevelopment of…
Accepted
The National Audit Office highlighted that the Weybridge redevelopment programme will have a range of contracts covering professional services and construction.62 The Department recognised the challenges of integrating a large number of suppliers and it told us that it has looked to learn lessons from the commercial aspects of other …
Government response. The government agrees to report back on progress in developing its commercial strategy for the Weybridge redevelopment, including contract structure and competition, with a target implementation date of June 2023. Commercial Strategy Phase II has been endorsed and Phase III …
HM Treasury
35
Recommendation
Twenty-Fourth Report - Redevelopment of…
Accepted
The Department also recognised that it needs to build up its commercial capability to enable it to act as an intelligent client and to manage the range of suppliers effectively. It stated that it had been too optimistic in its assumptions about the work required to integrate suppliers and is …
Government response. The government agrees to report back on progress in developing its commercial strategy for the Weybridge redevelopment, including contract structure and competition, with a target implementation date of June 2023. Commercial Strategy Phase II has been endorsed and Phase III …
HM Treasury