Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority Annual Report on Major Projects 2019–20, published on 9 July, which shows that the successful delivery (1) of 32 projects were in doubt and categorised as amber-red risk, and (2) 11 projects appeared to be unachievable and categorised as a red risk, what cross-departmental steps they are taking to improve the (a) performance, (b) delivery, and (c) cost control, of major projects.
The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) has a number of cross-departmental measures currently under way to improve the Government's delivery of major projects.
These include a new, more rigorous approach to accreditation for Government project delivery professionals, in order to drive skills in this area at all levels across Government.
The IPA is also strengthening the Government’s assurance regime, to ensure that processes are followed with rigour and improve quality across all departments and projects.
Finally, the IPA is working across Government to ensure better estimation of costs and timescales, better benchmarking capability and more consistent application of key principles of cost estimation as part of the Treasury’s ‘Green Book’ methodology.