Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 13
13
The Department acknowledged that its plans for achieving efficiency savings—which are based on thousands of...
Conclusion
The Department acknowledged that its plans for achieving efficiency savings—which are based on thousands of initiatives on equipment projects—did not always deliver the expected returns. It told us that it has introduced more rigorous scrutiny of savings proposals to help develop a better understanding of its ability to deliver future efficiencies.30 However, the Department could not provide confidence it will achieve the forecast savings and accepted the need to continually identify and develop new initiatives.31 The Department told us that it needed to include challenging targets in its Equipment Plan to maintain the focus of Commands to drive through efficiencies.32 It also highlighted the need to invest in its approach for achieving efficiencies, such as introducing new digital processes.33 Developing its financial capabilities
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2021 5.2 The next Equipment Plan report will explain the improvements made to assess risk in long-term projects and detail on the department’s planned efficiency savings. 5.3 As part of the work to strengthen the approach to assessing risk across the portfolio, the department has established a programme board to review how the department records risk in its financial forecasts to inform and support financial decision-making and control. The programme board has made several improvements, most notably the creation of centralised guidance on the methodologies for calculating risk costings and appropriate use. Supporting tools have also been made available to the project delivery community, which have purposefully been developed to accompany the new guidance. 5.4 The programme board will lead an implementation phase starting in financial year 2021-22, with the aim of fully embedding the guidance and improving the reporting, visibility and monitoring of risk across the portfolio. For the department’s major programmes, this will partly be achieved by improving risk management information presented at the Quarterly Portfolio Review.