By Helen Mooney | 19 August 2014
The Major Projects Authority needs stronger powers if it is to achieve its aim of ‘systemic improvement in project delivery across government’, the Public Accounts Committee has warned.
Committee chair Margaret Hodge said that there remain ‘serious weaknesses’ in the government’s project delivery capability.
In a report issued today, the PAC said the MPA – set up in 2011 – had only ‘informal’ influence over Whitehall departments.
‘It needs to have stronger, more formal mechanisms for driving change, and there should be transparency where ministers or officials have rejected its recommendations,’ said Hodge.
She added that the MPA needed to target top decision-makers as well as managers.
‘This should include ministers, shadow ministers and permanent secretaries.’
The projects in the MPA’s portfolio represented a huge and rising cost to the taxpayer. In May 2014 the total cost over the lifetime of these projects was estimated at £488bn, an increase of some £134bn on the previous year.
The portfolio includes high-profile government projects including Universal Credit and the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier programme.
The PAC said that, although the MPA supports the Treasury in approval and funding decisions, there is currently no obligation on the Treasury to follow its recommendations.
It noted that the MPA also had no powers if a department decides to proceed with a project against its advice.
The committee called for the MPA to have more formal powers to drive through change.
‘We constantly encounter projects that suffer from a lack of robust planning... there should be transparency where ministers or officials have rejected its recommendations,’ it said.
Responding to the report, a Cabinet Office spokesman said: ‘As part of our long-term economic plan, the MPA has helped departments save the taxpayer over £2.4bn last year against a 2009/10 baseline.
‘We are looking forward to building on this success and we will respond to the report’s recommendations shortly.’
