Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 17
28th Report - Decommissioning Sellafield
Published 4 Jun 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Decommissioning Sellafield All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We asked the NDA and Sellafield Ltd what they were doing to ensure that other projects benefitted from these improvements. Sellafield Ltd told us that it was looking to share learning with those projects which were being delivered under its pre–existing arrangements – such as those which were already well underway when the PPP approach started. It also told us that it was now looking to make sure that its medium–sized projects (those expected to cost over £20 million) were also benefitting.42 The NDA told us that it had established a group–wide community of project leaders which could share best practice between sites – and that staff transferring to other group companies were also helping.43 38 C&AG’s report, para 2.8 39 Infrastructure and Projects Authority, Annual Report on Major Projects 2023–24, 17 January 2025, pages 10 and 15 40 Q 63 41 Qq 63, 73–74 42 Q 63 43 Qq 64–65 14
From: Public Accounts Committee, 28th Report - Decommissioning Sellafield (HC 363), 4 June 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-eighth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 4 August 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-eighth report from Session 2024-26
Published 18 September 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says it agrees with each of the Committee's recommendations covered in this extract, with target implementation dates ranging from December 2025 to March 2027, though some are already implemented and some publication details remain to be settled.
- On oversight (recommendation 1), the government agrees and describes the recommendation as implemented. Since January 2025 the department's Principal Sponsor chairs monthly performance meetings, and a review of the revised governance structure will be initiated within 2025-26.
- On medium-term targets (recommendation 2), the government agrees, with a target date of March 2027. Work "is required to establish how and then when this information would be made public", and DESNZ will commission an independent, externally led review of the NDA Group by end-2025.
- On asset management (recommendation 4), the government agrees and says the recommendation is implemented. It states that "Solely increasing the productivity of maintenance teams misses the demands" of the site's complex asset picture.
- On long-term cost scenarios (recommendation 5), the government agrees, with a target date of December 2026. It says "It will be necessary to agree the mechanism and timing, including what is published".