Recommendation 27

The Department explained that in developing the Programme Business Case for the Weybridge redevelopment it did significant additional work on its cost estimate. This was based on a more developed design for the Weybridge redevelopment than the Outline Business Case and incorporated additional elements such as transformation and more allowance for risk50 This increased its cost estimate from £1.2 billion in its Outline Business Case (March 2020) to £2.8 billion in the Programme Business Case (November 2021).51 43 Qq 4, 11, 37, 76; C&AG’s Report, paragraph 2.2 44 Q 30; C&AG’s Report, paragraph 15, Figure 9 45 Qq 47–48; C&AG’s Report, paragraph 20 46 Qq 48–50, 57 47 Qq 45, 52–56 48 Q 58 49 Qq 44–45 50 Qq 35, 37 51 C&AG’s report, paragraph 15 16 Redevelopment of Defra’s animal health infrastructure