Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 5
5
Accepted
The Department has been slow to develop the capacity and capability it needs to deliver...
Recommendation
The Department has been slow to develop the capacity and capability it needs to deliver such a complex programme. The Department’s central programme team for the New Hospital Programme will require significant technical expertise to deliver successfully. Prior to the 2025 reset, the programme had struggled to recruit staff and had become reliant on external contractors. By November 2025, the programme team was still struggling with a vacancy rate of 39% due to an ongoing recruitment freeze in the wake of plans to dissolve NHS England. Following the end of the freeze, the Department is now confident that it has filled all key roles. However, we remain sceptical that the programme has the expertise it needs given that the risk that vacancies will delay the programme had been rated red, the scale of recruitment required to close the gap from November, and the time new staff will need to get up to speed. recommendation The Department must provide greater assurance that it has the skills and capability it needs for the programme. It should: a. be clear on the programme’s critical path and what this means for its staffing requirements; and b. develop a clear plan to address skills shortages, which could include working with other departments who are taking forward initiatives to develop key skills. Once completed, it should write to the Committee with the details.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government agrees and will publish an operational workforce plan in summer 2026 and complete scheme-level capability assessments by Autumn 2026. This work will inform a longer-term plan to address skills shortages, to be sent to the Committee by Winter 2026.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. commercial and programme delivery skills at scale. The programme is committed to resourcing delivery appropriately, using a combination of internal capability and external expertise to ensure it has the right skills available at the right time. The programme has an established approach to workforce planning and is progressing delivery of its workforce strategy. An operational workforce plan for 2026-27 will be published in summer 2026, setting out where the programme has capability gaps and a plan for sourcing and onboarding the skills required to meet delivery needs over the following 12 months. During 2026-27, the programme will use this information to inform its long-term workforce strategy, aligned to the waves of delivery set out in the Plan for Implementation, and to identify the most effective routes to access the required capability and capacity. The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. skills and capacity to deliver the programme within agreed running cost limits. The first phase will assess the skills and capabilities needed to deliver individual hospital schemes, focusing on the integrated teams responsible for delivering a single hospital scheme at the programme and trust level. The first set of scheme-level capability assessments will be completed by Autumn 2026. The programme will then expand this work to assess capability across the wider programme and to support Trusts to strengthen and transform their workforce capability. As this work progresses, it will inform a longer-term programme-wide plan to address skills gaps. This will include working with other departments, NHS organisations and the supply chain. The framework will also inform the strategy and curriculum for the NHP Academy, which is the Programme's main mechanism for developing critical skills and capability for the programme. The department will write to the Committee by Winter 2026 to set out the resulting plan and actions.