Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Accepted
Ensure lessons learned from digitalising processes are integrated into current and future departmental projects.
Conclusion
The Ministry and HMCTS have not demonstrated that lessons learned from this reform programme and their other major projects have been put into practice effectively. The Ministry and HMCTS recognise that there are several lessons to be learned from the court reform programme, particularly from the implementation of common platform. For example, the Ministry and HMCTS highlighted the importance of understanding the impact of delivering a programme of this size while 8 Progress on the courts and tribunals reform programme also maintaining performance and the importance of having a whole programme- level view of progress. However, the Ministry and HMCTS do not appear to have learnt lessons despite previously assuring us that they had. When we first reported on the programme in 2018, the Ministry told us that it had learnt lessons from both reform and its other major programmes, such as its reforms to the rehabilitation of offenders and its electronic monitoring system. However, seven years into the programme, HMCTS continues to make many of the same mistakes. Recommendation 6: The Ministry and HMCTS should write to us as part of the Treasury Minute response setting out how they will ensure lessons learned from digitalising their processes are fed into both the remainder of the programme and into other major departmental projects. Progress on the courts and tribunals reform programme 9 1 Delivering the reforms
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and states it already learns lessons through various evaluations. It is piloting a new lessons learned platform, which will be evaluated in autumn, with an aim to launch it department-wide by spring 2024 to ensure lessons are fed into remaining programmes and other major projects.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation Recommendation implemented The department has already learnt lessons through a number of processes including early adopter evaluations, outputs of maturity assessments and lessons from the closure of multiple projects. The department is planning a series of lessons learnt activities as it approaches each individual programme closure, with a focus in particular on the Common Platform. The department is currently piloting a lesson learned platform, the aim of which is to share lessons across all projects, particularly those major projects and programmes on the Government’s Major Projects Portfolio. The pilot will be evaluated in the autumn, and subject to its findings, the department intends to launch a lesson learned platform across the department and its agencies/arm’s length bodies in spring 2024. New projects will refer to this platform to ensure lessons are being factored in.