Recommendation 24

The Department also referred to the lessons it and HS2 Ltd have learnt from the difficulties Crossrail had in integrating the 36 main works contracts and ensuring that they work together. Informed by the Crossrail experience, at our June 2021 session on HS2, HS2 Ltd and the Department told us of their different approach to contracting for railway systems, which involves an alliance approach.63 However, the Department has not demonstrated to us in practical terms what it is doing differently in its management and oversight of major projects, what tangible improvements it has seen, nor the real- 56 C&AG’s report, paras 4.14, 4.16 57 C&AG’s report, para 4.17 58 Q 74 59 Q 76 60 Committee of Public Accounts, Modernising the Great Western Railway, 44th Report of Session 2016–17, 22 February 2017; Committee of Public Accounts, Sheffield to Rotherham tram-trains, 9th Report of Session 2017–19, 11 December 2017; Committee of Public Accounts, Update on the Thameslink Programme, 20th Report of Session 2017–19, 5 February 2018; Committee of Public Accounts, High Speed 2: Spring 2020 Update, 3rd Report of Session 2019–21, 6 May 2020; Committee of Public Accounts, Transport infrastructure in the South West, 104th Report of Session 2017–19, 24 June 2019. 61 Q 78; Lessons learned from transport for the sponsorship of major projects, Department for Transport and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, April 2019. 62 Q 78 63 Q 78; Committee of Public Accounts, Oral evidence: High Speed 2, HC 329, Qs 22–23 Crossrail: A progress update 15 world impact its changes have had. Without this information, we cannot be assured that the Department has embedded lessons throughout the Department and its arms-length bodies. 16 Crossrail: A progress update