Issues identified with governance and information on the programme

Figure 11 The Department and TfL commissioned KPMG to perform three reviews of the programme

Review

Purpose

Financial and commercial
(published January 2019)

To establish the extent to which Crossrail Ltd's financial modelling reflects the true state of the finances of the programme. It was a high-level assessment and did not include detailed analysis of the programme schedule or remaining works. It found that based on this information, it expected the programme to need between £1.6 billion and £2 billion more to complete the programme, including the additional £300 million announced in July 2018.

Available at: http://content.tfl.gov.uk/
financial-and-commercial-redacted.pdf

The sponsors used this work to determine the revised funding package, and the amount the Department would loan the Greater London Assembly and TfL.

Governance
(published January 2019)

To assess how governance and oversight of the programme had been working, and to make recommendations for improvement. It examined the relationship between the sponsors and Crossrail Ltd, and information coming to the Crossrail Board and on to the sponsors. It found that:

Available at: http://content.tfl.gov.uk/
governance-redacted.pdf

• Reporting within, and by, Crossrail Ltd was neither timely, nor sufficiently clear, as to the impacts and magnitude of the range of probable consequences of issues within the programme.

• Crossrail has taken action to update governance arrangements to reflect the changing nature of the programme. For example, Crossrail Ltd has created the Elizabeth line Strategic Steering Group. However, the revised governance arrangements have not sufficiently reflected the changing balance between construction, systems, integration and operational readiness activities.

• The Project Representative reported many of the key issues and risks to achieving the December 2018 opening date for the central section, but did not provide an assessment of the potential or likely impact on the opening date. KPMG found that the Project Representative did not adequately challenge Crossrail Ltd in its assumptions that it could recover delays, but this is not necessarily the view of sponsors.

• There was a much-reduced level of internal scrutiny during 2017-18 and 2018-19, as the Crossrail Board continued with its plans to reduce central resources. This included reduced internal audit coverage and disbanding the Crossrail Limited Audit Committee in July 2018 and the reallocation of its responsibilities.

The sponsors are considering what actions to take as a result of the review.

Timeline of events

To validate the Department's timeline of events between November 2017 when the explosion at Pudding Mill Lane occurred, and October 2018. The first phase of this work confirmed that the Department's timeline was largely consistent with source documents. A second phase is now underway to produce a more detailed timeline of events. Sponsors plan to publish this work once the second phase is complete.

Source: KPMG reviews