Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Accepted
Require Treasury and NISTA to detail annual reporting on strategy delivery and independent assurance.
Recommendation
It is not clear how NISTA and the Treasury will be held to account for delivery of their infrastructure strategy and pipeline. It is now critical that NISTA and the Treasury deliver on the commitments they have set out. NISTA believes that the role of setting infrastructure strategy is better situated inside government because the advice it received from the independent National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) was not always aligned with government policy. NISTA told us that it is retaining the NIC’s advisory council to ensure there is a strong voice from industry experts to influence government strategy. However, there is a risk that bringing the NIC’s strategic role into government could leave an absence of independent scrutiny over the effectiveness of the Treasury and NISTA’s delivery of the infrastructure strategy. recommendation In its Treasury Minute Response, the Treasury and NISTA should set out how they intend to report annually on progress against delivery of its strategy, as well as what arrangements it will make for this to be independently assured. 6 1 Changes to strategic governance of projects Introduction
Government Response Summary
The government agrees, stating it has already committed to reporting on progress and updating the 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy every two years. NISTA already reports annually on the Government Major Projects Portfolio, and the infrastructure pipeline, published in July 2025, will be updated every six months. NISTA will consider how to integrate this reporting.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented In the 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy, UK Government committed to reporting on progress and to updating the strategy every two years to ensure it remains up to date and reflects progress made. NISTA already reports annually for projects on the Government Major Projects Portfolio with the 2024-25 report published in August 2025. The infrastructure pipeline will also help to demonstrate progress against the Strategy, by providing a clear demonstration of how the objectives of the strategy are being translated into projects in delivery. The initial pipeline was published in July 2025 and will be updated at least every six months. NISTA will consider how this and other existing reporting can be integrated with reporting against progress on the Strategy over time. It will continue to engage stakeholders across industry, academia and also with investors to explore how best to make reporting as useful as possible as part of the wider process around refreshing the strategy.