Recommendation 15

Skills and leadership remain a persistent problem in delivering major projects. Our report on specialist skills in the civil service concluded that skills shortages were responsible for delays, inefficiencies and increased costs in government projects, with the lack of skills in the Home Office partly responsible for the 3-year delay to the Emergency Services Network programme.26 The IPA also stated that government has not got the right level of skills and experience to deliver some of its difficult and complex projects.27 The civil service struggles to attract and retain specialise staff, and the turnover of programme Senior Responsible Owners (SROs) has been an issue which has impacted performance.28 The IPA stated that this has improved slightly in recent years, with tenure in role moving from an average three years to over four and a half years, and it is currently examining whether competency-based pay mechanisms could be introduced to reward good SROs and encourage them to stay within their roles.29