Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
2
The Department has failed to identify, acknowledge and be transparent about problems within the Digital...
Conclusion
The Department has failed to identify, acknowledge and be transparent about problems within the Digital Services at the Border programme. Optimism bias about delivery and a failure to be open and transparent about delays left the Department unable to act on accurate information and exposed it to increased costs due to delays in identifying the need to reset the programme. In 2016 the Department made commitments to Parliament that the Digital Services at the Border programme was on track to deliver in 2017. Only in 2019 did the Department accept that it needed to reduce and narrow the scope of the programme to make it more deliverable. The Department put delays and subsequent reduction in scope of the Digital Services at the Border programme down to EU Exit and changes to classification of security data, but it had failed to make any contingency plans for the UK leaving the EU and the changes to classification were in place before the programme started. Recommendation: The Department should report back to the Committee on: • its mechanisms for oversight and assurance of delivery and how it knows whether they are working; • any costs incurred from deviating from the Department’s delivery plans.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented: 2.2 The programme was independently reviewed and reset in 2019 including rescoping and re-planning. The business case was revised and was then approved by the Home Office Portfolio Investment Committee and HM Treasury in July 2020. Since reset, the programme has delivered all key milestones on time and has spent in line with budget forecasts. 2.3 The programme has robust assurance oversight processes including independent reviews and checks by, including: the IPA (most recent review in June 2020 and next review planned for July 2021), the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) and quarterly reporting to the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP). The programme was also included in the Ministerial challenge work through 2020. The department will report back to the Committee to provide the outcome of the July 2021 IPA report. 2.4 There are monthly programme boards chaired by the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) where delivery plans, risks and dependencies are managed, and this ensures appropriate decisions, escalation routes and solutions are provided to ensure delivery to plans is maintained. 2.5 A dedicated programme assurance lead was appointed in November 2020 to coordinate assurance activity and ensure that all recommendations are tracked and reported against. The programme also has representatives of IPA, GIAA and Home Office wide independent internal assurance embedded in the programme as board members. 2.6 Programme finances are reviewed by the programme board, and since the programme rescope and revised business case spend has tracked to profile and is forecast to be within budget tolerances at the 2020-21 financial year end. Since 2019, there has been no deviation from major delivery milestones and no additional costs incurred.