Brexit may be dominating the headlines but as my annual report highlights there are many serious issues that Government needs to tackle. The new Prime Minister needs to seriously plan how to manage the issues that are not directly Brexit related. Many of these have an immediate impact on the user-such as school funding or the need to tackle recruitment in the NHS so that patients can receive treatment in appropriate timescales.
Other decisions may not cause an immediate issue but will store up problems for the future-defence spending is a classic example. There may not be big political kudos in tackling these issues today but there are huge financial and service consequences of deferring difficult decisions, as our recent reports on decommissioning nuclear submarines shows.
Good politics needs to be about planning for the long term as well as dealing with today's concerns and reacting to events. Brexit preparations continue to dominate the machinery of Whitehall and there needs to be serious action to ensure that other important issues don't get overlooked.
My report provides a snap shot from my unique perspective as chair of a committee that examines government projects in detail. Since my last report we have examined over 50 separate government projects and programmes. We also regularly call back departments when we have ongoing concerns about a project-the Emergency Services Network tops the list.
My departments of concern remain similar to previous years and any future Prime Minister should consider the workload and upheaval in departments before announcing new initiatives. If they don't there is a risk that programmes will not deliver. For example, the Ministry of Justice is currently unpicking the probation reforms introduced in 2014 but just doing this is a major project in its own right.
Government has to tackle large and complex issues. It is inevitable that there will be things that go wrong-or change. Time alone can throw up challenges that were unforeseen or unpredictable at the beginning of a large project. But it is vital that Government learns from mistakes and too often we still see these issues repeated.
One stand-out concern for me is that too often the user or consumer is not considered at an early stage of planning. We see this starkly with large scale rail projects where the engineering challenges can overshadow passenger needs. And in our most recent inquiry into the sale by Network Rail of its railway arches the tenants' concerns were only properly considered when the tenants themselves launched a vocal campaign.
One of my ongoing ambitions is to persuade departments to allow the Public Accounts Committee and National Audit Office early access to projects-so that we can examine them before they get going. I believe this could save taxpayers billions of pounds.
This year saw the departure of Sir Amyas Morse as Comptroller and Auditor General at the end of his ten-year term of office. He modernised the role and has made a huge contribution to ensuring Whitehall ups its game. I welcome Gareth Davies as the new C&AG and look forward to working with him.
I cannot undertake my role without the support and hard work of my Public Accounts Committee colleagues, from four political parties. I thank them for all their work. Our endeavour is very much a team effort and we share a strong sense of purpose in challenging Government to tackle waste and inefficiency and deliver effectively for our constituents.