Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Problems with the programme were compounded by instability among its senior leadership.
Conclusion
Problems with the programme were compounded by instability among its senior leadership. The programme had four different Senior Responsible Owners (SRO) between 2014 and 2020, with the current SRO being the longest serving after just over 2 years in post.21 The Department has also had three Permanent Secretaries during the life of the programme. The Department has acknowledged that previous SROs had other roles outside the programme, reducing their time and focus on the programme. The Department stated that it has changed this situation so that being the SRO on programmes of this size is a full-time role and has committed to seeking greater continuity in the position, with the expectation that the current SRO should stay in post until programme delivery.22
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
3: PAC conclusion: The Department’s failure to deliver the Digital Services at the Border programme by March 2019 was caused by a lack of effective leadership, management and oversight. 3: PAC recommendation: The Department should set out specifically what it is doing differently in its approach to the DSAB programme to ensure that it is delivered on time to its revised end March 2022 timetable. 3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 3.2 The reset in 2019 provided valuable lessons learned which the department has implemented, including: • the SRO having responsibility for one major programme and being able to flex their time commitment at varying points of the programme lifecycle, to ensure alignment and commitment to delivery of similar changes across the department; • new governance including comprehensive risk and governance processes, and mechanisms for managing change and scope requests and scope change are all embedded within the programme; • setting a manageable scope for the Digital Services at the Border (DSAB) programme and not trying to do too much; • the appointment of separate Programme and Technical Delivery directors to reinforce the senior leadership team; • establishing and using frameworks so technical resources can be quickly secured and deployed to support the phases of the programme; • building upon learning from the Border Crossing pilot into the current national rollout; • strengthening stakeholder representation at the programme board and in response to GIAA recommendations, the department has improved stakeholder engagement and tracking; and • increased allocated time for presentation of technical challenges at the programme board. 3.3 The technical differences in the department’s approach are: • the programme is delivering incrementally with short feedback loops; • key design decisions are flowing through the Home Office wide Technical Design Authority (TDA); • the department has taken an industry standard product-based approach; • teams work more collaboratively to deliver the roadmap; • estimating is data driven, using metrics from teams to improve forecasting accuracy. The people doing the work provide the estimates; and • there is a much stronger grip on dependencies and sequencing to enable the department to achieve its key goals.