The Department will not secure a step change in performance until it can recruit and retain the highly skilled staff that it requires. The Department continues to suffer from skills shortages in key areas critical to effective contract and programme management. It relies on expensive temporary contractors to deliver many of its programmes. We note that the cost of staff is small in comparison to the cost of the programmes the Department delivers. It pointed to constraints on its ability to re...

The Department will not secure a step change in performance until it can recruit and retain the highly skilled staff that it requires. The Department continues to suffer from skills shortages in key areas critical to effective contract and programme management. It relies on expensive temporary contractors to deliver many of its programmes. We note that the cost of staff is small in comparison to the cost of the programmes the Department delivers. It pointed to constraints on its ability to recruit the right people who would help to deliver programmes to time and budget, but acknowledges that the question of paying people appropriately for the Type: conclusion | Number: 5 | Response status: not_addressed Government response: 5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2022 5.2 The department acknowledges that the there is a highly competitive UK market for project delivery skills ranging from experienced project managers, project c