Government departments do not evaluate nearly enough of their projects, according to a new House of Commons Committee report.
The report – Delivering value from government investment in major projects – expresses concern about the risk of skills shortages in the supply chain and the continuing challenge that the government faces in developing the technical, engineering and project management skills it needs to deliver projects effectively.
Back in May 2022 the government reported that only 8% of £432bn of spend on major projects had robust impact evaluation plans in place.
“Many of the Government’s planned projects are complex, involving multiple departments and stakeholders. Bringing together the right stakeholders to deliver value does not come naturally to government departments and this remains a challenge,” the report said.
Recommendations from the report include analysing what governance structures and incentives work well to encourage cross-government working, an analysis from the Infrastructure Projects Authority of risks to the government’s portfolio of infrastructure projects caused by the lack of skills and embedding cross-government learning for future major projects.
