The Rt Hon Matt Hancock on the new National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) and what it needs to get right ahead of launch

The Rt Hon Matt Hancock, former MP and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care at UK Government joined project experts at APM’s recent webinar Lessons from Major Transformation Projects, speaking about his time in government including the merger that led to the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA), and being a ministerial sponsor of many major projects in government. 

The panel included Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow at Institute for Government and UK in a Changing Europe, Steph Illingworth, Group Head of PMO at Rolls-Royce, and James White, Programme Manager at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) and APM Board Trustee. The webinar’s audience heard insights from the panel about real world transformation projects, including case studies on the integration of Infrastructure UK and the Major Projects Authority (MPA), the Government’s Major Project Portfolio’s £20-£53bn Geological Disposal Facility Programme, and National Highways’ Project Performance Accelerator Programme, which was recognised by the Office for Rail and Road as one of the best programmes in the industry.

Transformation projects, whether in the public or private sector, are often complex and come with a unique set of challenges. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury recently announced the merger of the IPA and the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) to create the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), which is due to launch this Spring, to enhance the government's delivery of projects.

Ahead of the proposed launch of NISTA, Mr Hancock, who in 2016 was responsible for overseeing the merger of Infrastructure UK and the MPA to form the IPA, was asked by panel Chair Jill Rutter about the challenges of bringing together the two organisations (IPA and the NIC), and the risks the government should take into account as it embarks on the merger.  

Mr Hancock said, “I think it can work, but they’ve just got to get several critical things right to bring real value. There are three different roles at play, the first is auditing of ongoing projects which is what the MPA was invented for, and you can’t let the attention drift from the ongoing constant auditing and holding to account and the transparency that the MPA and the IPA carried out.

"The second is essentially financing, and that's what the old Infrastructure UK did, it’s a Treasury role. The third is strategy and advice, and there the trick is that you need to be independent so that it's useful input into the sorts of thinking government should be doing anyway, but it also needs to be closely aligned strategically to government, otherwise you just end up with making recommendations that the government doesn't accept.

“I hope that they get the independence of NISTA right, because it is quite tricky to be the auditor and transparency machine, which is really a Cabinet Office function, at the same time as being independent, as well as advising on the finances, which is a Treasury function.

“However, it can work and having one body that is the champion of project management inside government.  NISTA will be the fulcrum of project capability and thought leadership within government, which I think is very powerful.”

Mr Hancock, along with the other panel guests, went onto talk about skills in major projects and having enough project expertise to deliver them successfully.

Mr Hancock said: “It's always easy to knock the public sector's ability, but it does deliver some extraordinary projects incredibly well, as well as have some probably more famous failures, and it's entirely right in a democracy that when it goes wrong, that it gets the most scrutiny. There is a still a long way to go, but I hope that NISTA can really help government to lean into the agenda.

“In my view, you need a cadre of project professionals inside government, and to embed project skills training for senior managers, including ministers and the Senior Responsible Owners (SROs).  You need to embed project skills into mainstream public service and civil service senior leadership. The biggest projects are in government and that's really where the most talented project management needs to be. And when you get into the most senior jobs, there are very significant projects to manage.”

Conversation then moved onto amongst the panel about skills capability and the differences in project delivery between the private and public sector in delivery of complex projects.

 The Lessons from Major Transformation Projects webinar is available to watch in full here