Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 5
5
The calibre and number of people in leadership positions in major projects is still not...
Conclusion
The calibre and number of people in leadership positions in major projects is still not strong enough. Skills and leadership remain a persistent problem in delivering major projects, particularly in getting the appropriate mix of skills across areas such as civil engineering and digital systems. While the tenure of Senior Responsible Owners (SROs) has improved slightly in recent years, SROs still typically manage four or five different projects and so do not get the time to manage them effectively. Matching up an SRO’s skills with the stage a programme is at is also important. The IPA set up the Major Projects Leadership Academy to train SROs and has begun to offer this training to Ministers with responsibility for major programmes. It is looking to build on this work with a Major Projects Academy which is intended to support training and accreditation for the wider project delivery profession across government. This Committee previously recommended that Permanent Secretaries and other civil servants attend the Major Projects Leadership Academy, but it is clear that more work remains to improve the calibre of leadership for major projects. Recommendation: All SROs and people who work in the project delivery profession should attend IPA’s major projects leadership academy. Cabinet Office and HM Treasury should make sure all departments comply, including ensuring that all SROs have sufficient skills and time to be able to undertake their responsibilities. They should write to us to explain how they have assured themselves that this is happening. The IPA should update us in six months about how many people and in which positions, have been accredited and across which departments. It should also explain how it plans to roll out its training to the government project delivery profession as a whole, and whether the government now has, in its opinion, enough SROs to manage the number and scale of projects promised.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: August 2021 5.2 The government recognises the importance of appropriate training and continual professional development for all people working on major projects. For clarity, the Major Project Leadership Academy (MPLA) is only one of the training programmes offered or endorsed by the IPA. It has been designed to meet the specific needs of SROs and project directors (PDs) of GMPP projects and programmes. Attendance for these professionals is mandatory. SROs and PDs on non-GMPP projects should instead attend the IPA Project Leadership Programme (PLP). PLP is being refreshed and will be relaunched in Spring 2021. MPLA will be refreshed and relaunched in 2022. Other project professionals are encouraged to attend an alternative course more suited to their role, of which a number are available. 5.3 The IPA also offers training to those who are not members of the project profession but are responsible for providing oversight, such as director generals and permanent secretaries, and a new programme for ministers is now being piloted. 5.4 The refreshed IPA Mandate, published in January 2021, outlines requirements that are incumbent upon departments in managing their project leadership personnel. This includes a requirement that all SROs to receive a letter confirming their appointment, the expected time commitment, tenure and necessary training. In addition, departments must appoint a designated Head of Function and Head of Profession and notify HM Treasury and the IPA if it is proposed that one person acts as SRO on more than one major programme. From 2021, the IPA CEO’s approval will be required for all SRO appointments to major projects in the GMPP and an SRO will not be permitted to leave their role for another post in government without their consent. 5.5 The IPA will write to the Committee within six months to update it on the progress made. 5.6 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: August 2021 5.7 As highlighted by Lord Maude’s review, the government recognises the importance of having the right functional expertise and is taking action to address this, including within the project delivery profession. 5.8 The IPA maintains a cross-government register of project professionals and their accreditations, which is used to enforce compliance with agreed baseline standards and encourage uptake of continual professional development opportunities. Building on a number of other successful initiatives to support project professionals, in 2021 the IPA will launch the Government Projects Academy to standardise the approach to training and accreditation across government and link it to external standards. It will set prerequisite, hands-on experience required to assume different levels of project responsibility. These changes will be piloted throughout 2021 and the IPA will write to the Committee to update it on the progress made over the next six months. 5.9 The IPA produces insights on project profession capacity and capability, disaggregated at both departmental and individual project levels. These are based on data provided by departments on a quarterly basis and the IPA is exploring ways to streamline reporting processes and reduce data lag-time. The IPA has recently enhanced its capability for analysing and interpreting these data through new SRO and PD dashboards. This enables challenges to be identified and remedial actions to be agreed with departments and quickly, and for improvements to be tracked.