Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 11
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 the Treasury to outline what its new supervisory role is going to be for mega-projects. The Treasury explained that it will have a greater role in the governance of mega-projects by requesting a seat at the board and, in its role as financial shareholder, will have far greater accountability for the mega-project’s success.21 We also asked how risks and uncertainties at the beginning of a project would be better understood. NISTA told us that the mega projects decision panel that the OVFM recommended is being created. It said that the Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office, a director general within the Treasury and the CEO of NISTA will sit on this panel and advise the Chancellor, Chief Secretary and Prime Minister on the approval decision points. At these points a significant amount of assurance would be done, identifying the risks.22 17 HM Treasury, Value for Money (VfM) study on the governance and budgeting arrangements for mega projects, 19 June 2025 18 Q 11 19 Q 12 20 Q 5 21 Q 7 22 Q 12 10 Defining a mega project
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".