Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 38
38
Accepted
New Hospital Programme heavily relies on consultants, consuming 79% of its day-to-day expenditure.
Conclusion
In February 2023, 223 (62%) of the 361 positions in the NHP team were filled by consultants. Consultants outnumbered permanent employees by roughly two to one. Over the period from April 2021 to March 2023, £70 million (79%) of the NHP’s total day- to-day expenditure went on consultancy services.83 DHSC told us that it had to choose between making an extremely slow start to the programme, with just those individuals it could recruit, or to start with a larger amount of external consultancy support. It told us it expected later to make a transition to a new operating model, suggesting it would rely less on external support in future.84
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the high reliance on consultants, stating it is actively recruiting for internal roles and plans to transition to a model where external resources are eventually replaced by directly employed individuals as the programme matures, supported by a recruitment strategy and a procurement process for a delivery partner.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
7.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: March 2024 7.2 The NHP is a highly complex infrastructure project that requires significant technical expertise. External professional and technical expertise is a regular part of large construction programmes, and the NHP’s approach is in line with other major government programmes at this stage. The NHP has a recruitment strategy that covers the full breath of its required resource over the duration of the programme lifecycle, and the procurement of a programme delivery partner. The department regularly engages with HM Treasury and Cabinet Office on this and will write to the Committee by March 2024 as requested. 7.3 There is a shortage of skilled specialists across the Civil Service which affects the delivery of many major government projects, and there have been difficulties in recruiting people to senior leadership positions in the NHP. The NHP is actively recruiting into key roles in the department and NHSE, including project and programme management, digital and workforce change, procurement and other commercial expertise. Resourcing is regularly monitored by the NHP People Committee to ensure that the NHP has the right level of resources to deliver the programme effectively. 7.4 The NHP also recognises that some roles are more appropriate to fill with specific external expertise, examples being architects and engineers. Specific external expertise will be procured through a programme delivery partner. NHSE launched the procurement for this delivery partner in November 2023. The government’s view is that a programme delivery partner approach is necessary to enable the NHP to secure the flexible capability it needs to meet emerging risks and challenges, but that as the programme matures, it may be possible for some of this resource to eventually be replaced by directly employed individuals.