Dr Norma Wood
Chief Executive of the Major Projects Authority
What were your biggest policy and delivery challenges in 2013? How did you handle them?
It is vital that our major investments in Britain’s infrastructure and services pay off, and a big challenge this year has been responding to the recommendations from Lord Browne, the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee to explain how we do that.
In the past, less than a third of major projects were delivered on time and to budget. The Major Projects Authority (MPA) was established two years ago, and while we’ve made great progress in improving transparency to help us honestly appraise projects, and in addressing the need to improve project skills across government, there’s still much to do.
We’ve been working hard to deliver our plans under our Built to Last strategy to ensure the changes we’re making are for the long term; and of course, we must do all this while continuing to deliver business as usual.
Where have you made the most progress in implementing the Civil Service Reform Plan, and what are your reform priorities for 2014?
I’ve mentioned the great strides we’ve made improving skills. A large part of that success is down to the creation of the Major Projects Leadership Academy (MPLA), which has been developed and is run in partnership with the Saïd Oxford Business School and Deloitte. The MPLA has surpassed expectations. Originally contracted for 150 delegates over three years, it has reached this number 18 months after its launch and within the original budget. This number increased to 179 when Cohort 6 began on 3 December – which means we’re on track to meet our CSR commitment for all 340 government major project portfolio leaders to have started the MPLA by the end of 2014.
In 2014 we’ll concentrate on delivering the appointment, recruitment and retention package for senior responsible owners and develop a lighter version of the MPLA programme for those below project leader level.
What are your key challenges in the last year of the Parliament? How will you tackle them?
We are recruiting new people with specialist skills and expertise to meet Built to Last commitments. This means we need to rapidly bring our new team members up to speed, whilst handling the peak in business as usual activities to continue to support departments in delivering their major projects
We are also going to extend the Government Major Projects Portfolio by a half, to cover 300 of government’s most high priority and complex projects.
What would you most like Santa to bring you this year? And what would you like him to take away?
Firstly, he could get me a pair of 38-inch legs so I can wear the dresses I’ve always dreamed of! But equally, I’d be happy if he could transform the way we prioritise our portfolio of projects in departments to deliver policy objectives quicker and make better use of scarce resource. I’d also be grateful if he could ensure our new MPLA graduate community can continue to share best practice in project delivery, and for one of our expert project leaders to make it to the top.
And to take away? I think we could all lose a few very cumbersome processes!