Whitehall needs ‘delivery revolution’ to avoid wasting £10bn

The government will waste £10bn in its attempts to “level up” the country’s infrastructure unless it reforms project delivery, according to a leading London think tank.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to announce the wave of new projects in next week’s budget to fulfil the Tories’ election promise to spend £100bn on infrastructure.

However, a new Resolution Foundation report said project delivery within Whitehall needed reform to “avoid wasting up to £10 billion on poorly chosen, designed, or executed infrastructure projects”.

The think tank said the government should increase transparency by forcing departments to publish project business cases; hand more oversight powers to the National Infrastructure Commission; and devolve decision more making powers over investment decisions to local authorities.

Cara Pacitti, Resolution Foundation researcher, said: “Government plans to increase investment spending by up to £100 billion over the next five years are very welcome.

“But while an infrastructure revolution is desperately needed, it’s equally important the government get its priorities right and ramps up the focus on delivery as much as it ramps up investment spending, otherwise it risks wasting billions of pounds.

“To do this we need a corresponding delivery revolution.”