Project Delivery

HM Passport Office will be abolished and its operations absorbed by the Home Office from 1 October, it has been announced today, and the organisation’s chief executive Paul Pugh will be replaced by a newly-appointed director general.

Senior civil servants often “don’t know what’s going on” with contracts held by their departments and thus spot problems too late, Joshua Reddaway, the National Audit Office’s director for commercial and contracting, has warned.

The Public Accounts Committee has warned the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) that it lacks the data to ensure that local authorities are receiving “value for money with their funding” in some targeted grant schemes.

The £15.8bn Crossrail programme was commended for demonstrating good programme management by a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report, published yesterday.

An official responsible for an IT contracting error which cost the Ministry of Defence (MoD) £70m is no longer working for the department, its permanent secretary Jon Thompson told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on 16 June​.

Civil servants responsible for running major projects will be able to tell parliament when ministers directed them to make particular decisions, under proposals published by the government.

The former UK Border Agency (UKBA) was doomed to fail due to its sheer scale and constant media attention, its former chief executive Rob Whiteman has said.

The number of major projects on track to be delivered on time and to budget has fallen from 32 to 17 over the year, while the number of projects in serious danger of failing has fallen from eight to four, according to new figures from the Major Projects Authority (MPA).

Civil service policymakers still need to improve their focus on outcomes and policy implementation, two top officials have said

Serious questions remain about accountability for Universal Credit in light of Robert Devereux and Iain Duncan Smith’s latest appearance before MPs, the Institute for Government has said.

The government should send more civil servants to the European Commission (EC) as part of their regular career paths, chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has said.

The Major Projects Authority (MPA) is extending its range to cover 100 more projects from next year, CSW has learnt.

Prime minister David Cameron has called on civil servants to “talk truth to power and tell it like it is” in order to improve policy.

Cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood has intervened in a bid to end the political briefings against work and pensions permanent secretary Robert Devereux.

The civil service must “significantly” improve its ability to understand company accounts if it is to make effective use of open-book contracts, according to government chief operating officer Stephen Kelly and chief procurement officer Bill Crothers.

The head of the Major Project Authority (MPA), David Pitchford, today announced that he is stepping down. He will leave in September to return to his home in Australia.

Reforms overseen by the Cabinet Office’s Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG) have generated £10bn savings in the last financial year, ministers have today announced.

Companies run by two lead departmental non-executive directors (Neds) have been publicly accused of serious wrongdoing.

The collapse of the West Coast Mainline franchising process won’t deter the Department for Transport (DfT) from taking necessary risks, the department’s permanent secretary has promised in an interview with CSW.

The lack of a senior responsible owner for the West Coast Rail franchise project was the “biggest problem” behind the failure of the bidding process, Sam Laidlaw told the House of Commons Transport Committee yesterday.

The government is looking to establish joint ventures so that some of its intellectual property businesses can enter international markets, Stephen Kelly, government’s new chief operating officer, has told CSW.

The Department for Transport’s decision to publicly suspend three officials last month when it reopened bidding for the West Coast Mainline franchise was “immoral”, former Labour transport secretary Lord Adonis said last week.

Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration. This is the key to ensuring that government and industry deliver megaprojects as planned.

Departments have spent billions on shared services schemes but have failed to reap the benefits, with projects often over-budget and over-customised, the National Audit Office says in a report today.