45 Underpinning all our themes is the need for transparency and honesty both within government and throughout the supply chain. Accurate, timely and relevant information is crucial to guide and monitor the delivery of programmes. Transparency and honesty are also the basis for constructive challenge of delivery bodies by sponsors, as well as from Parliament and wider society. Despite its importance, we have found issues with both the technical quality of programme information, as well as organisational cultures preventing the right information from emerging. Without these, the quality of decision-making may suffer from over-optimistic assessments of programme progress and problems that could have been identified earlier may suddenly emerge.
46 Underlying data on the costs and benefits of programmes are often poor or non-existent. Within departments and delivery bodies we have seen multiple estimates and numbers in use that are not easily reconciled with one another, making it difficult for sponsor and delivery bodies to track and report progress. Reporting has also been supported by evidence that is insufficient or out of date, demonstrating a lack of connection between the working level and that presented to decision-makers. For example in The Equipment Plan 2017 to 2027, our review of a sample of projects in the Plan found insufficient evidence from some teams to conclude that the assumptions made in their costings were robust, and cases where the initial evidence provided by project teams was inconsistent with the information on which the Plan was based. We also identified two cases where forecast costs did not reflect the most accurate data available at the time the Plan was compiled. Our subsequent report found some improvements: budgets for the first year of the Plan were based fully on forecast costs and financial risks, although this did not apply to subsequent years.15
47 We have also observed weaknesses in the form of information; for example, bodies have not always considered what information could act as a leading indicator of issues that are emerging. For example, on Crossrail, we found that the emphasis on progress reports presented to the board and sponsors was on what had been achieved, rather than on the level of risk to successful delivery that remained in the programme.16 During the early stages of the Universal Credit programme, we reported that the DWP lacked a detailed plan or management information, which meant that it could not measure its progress effectively against what it was trying to achieve. The Department has since improved its use of performance measures. For example, it has introduced lead indicators of payment timeliness which it uses to investigate and challenge variations in its offices' performance, thereby helping to increase the number of claimants paid on time from 55% in 2017 to 90% in February 2020.17
48 Different types of information may be important at different stages of a programme, particularly information that indicates whether a programme is ready to transfer to the next stage, such as from design to construction or construction to operation. For the right information to flow through the programme, bodies must work to embed a culture of transparency and honesty throughout an organisation and into the supply chain. The pressures that sponsor or delivery bodies are under can make them defensive about the programme or allow a 'good news' culture to develop which can undermine processes intended to transmit accurate information. This means that opportunities to identify and mitigate serious issues may be missed, and instead emerge suddenly and unexpectedly. This can also damage the trust in an organisation's delivery of a programme at a time when it most needs the support of its external stakeholders.
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15 Comptroller and Auditor General, The Equipment Plan 2017 to 2027, National Audit Office, HC 717, Session 2017-2019, January 2018; The Equipment Plan 2018 to 2028, National Audit Office, HC 1621, Session 2017-2019, November 2018.
16 Comptroller and Auditor General, Completing Crossrail, National Audit Office, HC 2106, Session 2017-2019, May 2019.
17 Comptroller and Auditor General, Universal Credit: early progress, National Audit Office, HC 621, Session 2013-14, September 2013; Universal Credit: getting to first payment, HC 376, Session 2019-2021, July 2020.