Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 10
44th Report - Governance and decision-making on major projects
Published 10 Sep 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Governance and decision-making on major projects All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We asked how government will prevent projects being announced too early, noting that politicians are a factor. The OVFM told us that this feasibility stage will try to address this by setting out how governance is going to work, with publication of the strategy and delivery plan for a mega-project that defines the stages it will go through. The OVFM and the Treasury also emphasised the importance of flexibility and that cost and schedule estimates should be very broad ranges in the early stages.18 NISTA told us that when there is uncertainty, projects will follow the NISTA guidance on cost estimating, which has a broad range at the start, then comes down as maturity develops.19 The Treasury told us that when the mega-project is ready it will enter a construction phase, which would have its own budget with flexibility within it where things are not expected to change, as a result of the work done during the feasibility stage. The OVFM added that for mega-projects categorised by their definition, the Prime Minister, Chancellor and the relevant Secretary of State will be responsible for making the final investment decision.20
From: Public Accounts Committee, 44th Report - Governance and decision-making on major projects (HC 642), 10 September 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forty-fourth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 10 November 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forty-Fourth report from Session 2024-26
Published 19 January 2026.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it "agrees with the Committee's recommendation" in each of the responses set out, with some marked as implemented and others given target dates.
- On the Committee's request for a 12-month update on mega-project governance, the government agrees, with a target implementation date of September 2026; the Treasury "will write to the Committee".
- On the £10 billion mega-project threshold and on alignment with Mission and place-based governance, the government agrees and records both recommendations as implemented, stating the Treasury "has written to the Committee".
- On assurance, NISTA "will be reviewing and consulting on the assurance framework holistically"; the Treasury will tie higher Delegated Authority Limits to departments evidencing compliance with standards.
- On reporting, the government agrees; NISTA "will consider how" existing reporting can be integrated with reporting against the Strategy, and the infrastructure pipeline "will be updated at least every six months".