Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
2
We are concerned about the continued lack of transparency to Parliament about the progress of...
Conclusion
We are concerned about the continued lack of transparency to Parliament about the progress of government projects. This Committee has examined many programmes where issues were emerging for some time that only became public knowledge much later. For example, the Committee was kept in the dark for over a year before being told about the difficulties on the High Speed Two programme, and the programme now reports to Parliament half-yearly as a result of our work. The IPA agrees that creating a culture of openness and transparency is critical to effective project delivery. However, data on individual programmes can be poor, and there can be trade-offs to manage between commercial confidentiality and public transparency. Departmental processes for publishing information, such as in annual reports, may be delayed and/or inconsistent with information presented elsewhere in government. While the IPA states that it has good quarterly reporting in the GMPP and in its annual report, there is a time lag between the reported data and what’s happening on a project. As a result, we question whether this is useful for helping Parliament or the public to understand how major projects are progressing. The NIC told us that GMPP project business cases, outturn costs and schedules and other long-term evaluations will now be published from April 2021, which we welcome. Recommendation: HM Treasury and Cabinet Office must set out what they are doing to make sure that information on the progress of major projects is transparent and reported to Parliament in a more timely manner, particularly 6 Lessons from major projects and programmes for those projects that are nationally important. They should also set out what they are doing to make sure that all Accounting Officers comply with the rules around making assessments of major projects (against the criteria of propriety, regularity, feasibility and VFM) and to publish summaries of this advice on a timely basis. The Committee reminds all AOs
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
2. 1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: July 2021 2.2 The IPA recognises that, to enable effective parliamentary scrutiny, the right type and amount of information about major projects needs to be made available in a timely fashion and appropriate format. This needs to be done with sensitivity to commercial, and where relevant national security, considerations. 2.3 The IPA’s Transparency Policy includes a presumption in favor of the publication of major project data. Each piece of data or information is assessed on a project-by-project basis, and any exemption made is consistent with the Freedom of Information Act and the government’s approach to the public interest test. 2.4 The IPA publishes an annual report of projects on the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) each July. This report includes an analysis of trends across the whole portfolio and insights on each individual project or programme. As part of a comprehensive refresh of the structure and content of the annual report - aimed at addressing recommendations made by the Committee in June 2020 - the IPA has taken significant steps to improve data collection and analysis processes. As a result, the data in this year’s report will be current as of March 2021, instead of September 2020, halving the lag time from nine months last year to four this year. As part of this refresh, the IPA will also publish aggregate GMPP projects benefits data. 2.5 As the Committee acknowledges, from April 2021 projects on the GMPP will begin publishing summary business cases following final approval, a close-out report following completion and other long- term evaluations.