Methodology
Purpose | Details of method |
Interviews with Authority and Treasury officials, and review of key documents |
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To establish what specific measures have been put in place or planned in response to the recommendations in our 2010 report, and provide a basis for assessing progress against the recommendations. | We carried out 13 in-depth interviews with key staff across the Major Projects Authority, including senior management and project specialists responsible for liaison with departments and projects. |
To identify whether there is sufficient capacity and capability to fill any remaining gaps. | We reviewed key documents produced by the Major Projects Authority, including general guidance on assurance and board agendas and minutes. |
| We carried out four interviews with Treasury officials, who provided the key liaison points with the Major Projects Authority. |
Interviews with the Authority's project specialists and project staff on major projects |
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To provide project-based evidence of the degree to which the assurance system is embedded and having impact. To gather wider departmental evidence and views on Major Project Authority progress against our recommendations. | We interviewed seven department-level contacts who operated as the key liaison and reporting points to the Major Projects Authority. We also interviewed project staff on nine projects in the portfolio. Interviews were semi-structured, and covered experiences and views of the assurance and government major project portfolio reporting process. |
Expert panel |
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To provide comparator evidence from the public and private sector (in UK and elsewhere) and test our emerging findings and recommendations. | We convened a day workshop with an expert panel drawn from our strategic partners to identify good practice examples and review our draft findings and recommendations. |
Public and private sector comparators |
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To inform our understanding of effective assurance outside of the UK public sector. | We interviewed staff to understand other organisations' approaches to assurance. |
Analysis of government major project portfolio quarterly returns and dashboards |
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To assess the quality and effectiveness of the government major project portfolio reporting process. | We analysed data from the three sets of quarterly returns available. We reviewed the guidance provided to departments and project staff to complete returns. We also reviewed the portfolio and department dashboards that the Major Projects Authority produce based on the returns, together with their accompanying submissions. |