Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 50
50
Accepted
Clear project scope definition essential to prevent cost escalation in infrastructure plans
Conclusion
The Department reflected that a key lesson from the experience of HS2, and which needs to inform all the Department’s future infrastructure plans, is that the Department needs to be very clear when it sets out on a large project what it is there to achieve. Changing the scope significantly when a project is already underway has a financial cost to it and the Department told us that the escalation of costs seen with HS2 reflects an obvious lesson of “to have a plan and stick to it.”83
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the conclusion, committing to identify and apply lessons from the HS2 program during the program reset and transformation of HS2 Ltd. It will outline key lessons to the Committee and provide updates in future Parliamentary reports.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2025 The department is committed to learning lessons on the programme and has worked closely with HM Treasury and the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority to identify key lessons from the programme and how those can be applied. Over the course of the HS2 programme reset and transformation of HS2 Ltd, the department aims to implement these lessons. The department will also take into account the findings of the Major Transport Projects Governance and Assurance Review, led by James Stewart, many of which will be implemented as part of the programme reset. Lessons from HS2 are also being shared with the Inter-Ministerial Group for Infrastructure, NISTA and the Office for Value for Money so that they can be taken into account across Government. The department will write to the Committee outlining the key areas of lessons and will provide further updates in the next Parliamentary report.