We would like to share information from a recent National Audit Office report titled “Infrastructure and Projects Authority”. The vision is to help the nation spend wisely and help Parliament hold Government to account and improve public services.

Here are some key facts:

10 out of 138 existing projects will be affected by the EU exit;

9 departments have supported the governance of projects by the EU exit;

15 reviews are taking place as high priority relating to the EU exit;

250-300 estimated number of new projects by end of 2017/18;

The National Audit Office are examining this now in preparation for the EU exit;

The authorities’ main focus up to 2016 has been to provide assurances, support and transparency reporting on the progress to Government largest and riskiest projects. There are currently no new projects to implement on the EU exit, but the authority has identified the EU exit will impact on 10 existing projects. The value of the 138 projects is £514 billion. These 10 projects are across 5 departments. The Department for Transport includes M20 Lorry Park, 14 potential new major projects have been identified, 3 of which fall into the Department for Transport.

The authority has prioritised the projects as follows:

1. Top priority      –  Business, Energy, Industrial Strategy;
2. Middle priority – Communities and Local Government;
3. Low priority      –  Department of Transport;

The authority aims to provide timely and proportionate assurances for projects that must be ready when the UK leaves the EU in March 2019. These projects face a number of common challenges including:

• lack of time contingency for some projects;
• being at different stages of maturity;
• large number of delivery stakeholders;
• significant dependencies between projects across government;

Tough decisions and prioritisations are being made behind the scenes on a regular basis with the interests of the nation paramount at all times. Running the government is more technical and complex than ever before in the current climate. We are talking about large, complex change processes as March 2019 becomes closer and closer with a large number of changes designed to transform the way of working in the future and it would be easy to get lost in these complex negotiations. Implementation of the programme to leave the EU requires clear focus and priority whilst acting upon the nation’s best interests.

Tough decisions will need to be made by the Government with support from ministers and individual departments. The Government will need to be nimble in allocating resources, managing risk and taking its people on the journey to a brighter future for all. We must all unite behind the Government to deliver the Brexit that’s right for the people of the UK.