The most hackneyed sign off from official bodies of all sorts when they have been identified as having screwed up yet again invariably includes a phrase along the lines of “lessons have been learned”. We have all learned of course that little or even nothing seems to have been learned at all and the same miscreants – water companies, police forces, hospital departments etc – are before long back on their naughty stools once again, promising to do better.
Blog and Comment
MoD lacks expertise and capacity needed for Defence Housing Strategy, NAO says
Much attention is currently focussed on the government’s defence spending plans, as it must be. Against the background of various conflicts globally, defence is increasingly recognised as an area of public spending that has to be increased.
Regulator recommends reform of road and rail procurement
The competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, has laid into the road and rail civil engineering markets, highlighting the need for reform in how the UK procures these vital elements of infrastructure.
Wider industry needs to step up to the mark on waste
Stories about fly tipping have become a regular feature on national media recently, as the blatant disregard for the environment, public health and safety, and seemingly increasing scale of the sites being used for dumping demand increasing attention to the problem. Construction waste isn’t all that gets dumped but is at the heart of the problem, as an appeal from Hampshire County Council for information about waste dumped on an A31 junction as we went to press proves.
Public Accounts Committee launches five new inquiries
Public spending watchdog the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has set itself up for a busy period between now and at least the summer parliamentary recess in July with the announcement that it will be holding inquiries into a range of major infrastructure projects.
Hinkley Point C hit by new delay and rising costs
Further significant damage to the well tattered reputation of the UK’s infrastructure delivery capabilities is being delivered by news that Hinkley Point C will now cost nearer £50 billion at current prices than the £15 billion that was the first number the project’s supporters thought of when costs were first estimated at 2015 prices.
Competition regulator could earn the thanks of an entire industry
A week before Christmas, competition regulator the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) released an interim report that passed without too much notice, part of its market study into the civil engineering market for roads and railways.
Planning changes may be aiming at the wrong target
The UK’s planners must feel beleaguered more than any group of public sector employees at the moment. Reports that there aren’t enough of them to cope with the pace of housebuilding and infrastructure investment that the government says it wants abound.
HS2 – will we see its like again?
Public Account Committee Chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown’s first annual report as Chairman scathingly criticised the continued failure of the DfT and HS2 Ltd to work together effectively to ensure adequate financial oversight of the project. He had to confess that the committee was no more certain of government’s ability to deliver HS2 than it was ten years ago.
Why is one project ‘mega’ and another one not, PAC asks
It is encouraging that the government says it has accepted the recent recommendations of the Office for Value for Money regarding how to improve how large projects are managed – or mismanaged, as often seems to have been the case.