22. The Department explained that one of the main lessons to be learned from Crossrail is the need to strike the right balance between the autonomy provided to the delivery partner (in this case Crossrail Ltd) and the oversight that the Department as sponsor and funder provides to that project.47 Our report in April 2019 found that the Department, as one of the sponsors of the programme, chose to provide Crossrail Ltd with a level of autonomy that Crossrail Ltd described as "extreme". The Department recognised that this level of autonomy hindered its ability as sponsor to understand and challenge progress during the later stages of the programme. The Department accepted that its governance arrangements were insufficient to properly capture the risks to the programme as it progressed and that it should have reviewed its governance arrangements several years ago.48
23. We were concerned that this extreme autonomy led to the Department taking a somewhat passive approach to its sponsorship of the programme. We asked the Department whether the failure to reach a timely decision that the programme would not deliver in December 2018 was a derogation of their duty to ensure taxpayers' money was spent correctly. It told us that as sponsor, the Department was responsible for setting dates and key milestones for the programme and that it was for Crossrail Ltd to seek to request a change to those target dates if it believed they could not be delivered. The Department also told us that it had been drawing this conclusion before the company reached that conclusion itself, but that it relied on Crossrail Ltd to advise on the opening date of the line because that was Crossrail Ltd's job. The Department blamed the Crossrail Ltd Board and executive team for the failings in the programme, and laid the blame on the overall system of governance and management of the programme. Given that the Department, as one of the sponsors and funders of the programme, was ultimately accountable for the efficient and effective use of taxpayers' money, we were concerned that this shows that the Department had, in effect, devolved its accountability for successful deliver of the programme.49
__________________________________________________
47 Q 22
48 Committee of Public Accounts, Crossrail: Progress review, Ninety-second report of session 2017-19, HC 2004, 3 April 2019, para 21
49 Qq 175-189; Committee of Public Accounts, Oral evidence - Crossrail: progress review, HC 925, 6 March 2019