Restoration and Renewal of Parliament: Costing and governance

More than a million people, including 100,000 school children, pass through the doors of the Palace of Westminster each year. It is a world heritage site, home to one of the busiest parliaments, and considered to be one of the finest examples of 19th-century neo-gothic Victorian architecture in the world. Consulting engineers concluded in 2000 … Show more

More than a million people, including 100,000 school children, pass through the doors of the Palace of Westminster each year. It is a world heritage site, home to one of the busiest parliaments, and considered to be one of the finest examples of 19th-century neo-gothic Victorian architecture in the world. Consulting engineers concluded in 2000 that a significant amount of services plant and equipment needed replacing in the Palace basements within 5-10 years, with ongoing maintenance deemed uneconomic. In its report on the Restoration and Renewal (R&R) of Parliament 2017 , the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recommended that Parliament should leave the Palace while major works were carried out, with a full decant most likely the most economical, effective and efficient choice. Doing nothing, the PAC said, in 2017, was not an option. The PAC further reported on progress with R&R in 2022 , finding failures in transparency along with wasteful, nugatory spending. At this point, there had been 25 fire incidents in the Palace over the past seven years, with 13 incidents of falling masonry. A further PAC report in 2023 found a real and rising risk that the Palace of Westminster would be destroyed by a catastrophic event before it is restored. Later that same year, the then-PAC Chair urged the House authorities to provide clarity on the refurbishment plans, while laying out continuing and key health and safety concerns. As part of its ongoing R&R scrutiny, the PAC will hear from senior House officials with responsibility for the programme to establish whether R&R governance arrangements are appropriate and effective, the costs of the programme are providing value for the taxpayer and that adequate information is available to support decision-making by Parliament on the way forward. If you have evidence on these issues, please submit here by 23:59 on Thursday 5 March 2026. Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. The Committee decides what information to publish and how. You can request anonymity or confidentiality when you send evidence, but it is for the Committee to say whether it will agree.It may treat submissions confidentially, even where you have not requested this. Please note that the Committee’s inquiry cannot assist with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to read the information on Parliament’s website about who you can contact with different issues. Show less