The MPA currently scrutinises some 200 government projects worth £350bn, in an effort to ensure that they run on time and within budget. But Dr Norma Wood, the MPA’s interim director, has told CSW that from March 2014, it will cover 100 more projects.
Speaking at last Thursday’s Civil Service Awards, where the MPA received a special award from the Public Accounts Committee for ‘outstanding service delivery and value for money’ (see picture above), Wood talked of a “big agenda” around extending the MPA’s remit over the next year.
A Cabinet Office spokesman later told CSW that the MPA’s scope will be extended to cover any public body which falls within central government. No choices have been made yet about exactly which projects will be examined.
My personal reaction is that I was really sad. Philip and I worked closely together in the Department for Transport, including in the very difficult period after the West Coast Main Line rail franchise award collapsed, when he was permanent secretary and I was the lead DG on the inquiries. He is somebody of incredibly high integrity – which you really saw in moments of crisis like that. So I have a huge amount of time for Philip and I’m really sorry that he’s gone because we need people like him in the civil service.