Project Speed has developed the following reforms to do • Streamlining and condensing governance – seeking to remove duplication and speeding up investment approvals at the centre of government by combining HM Treasury and Cabinet Office approvals processes for priority projects; • Bringing in specialists and ministers into the process earlier – to offer expertise, support and provide key decisions early on - progressing or stopping projects at the right time; and • Front-end loading planning and decision making – ensuring all major projects that are complex or novel use the Routemap methodology, a project initiation tool developed by industry and the IPA. A new Project Delivery Framework will be introduced in early 2021, including setting clear standards that must be met at each stage for a project to proceed. Good decision making does not stop with project approval. To ensure the UK is getting the maximum value out of reforms and taxpayer money, the government needs to robustly monitor and evaluate projects during and after delivery. Changes to how the government monitors and evaluates project outcomes will improve how institutions like the NIC and National Audit Office (NAO) hold the government to account. At the heart of the government’s monitoring and evaluation framework is the IPA’s oversight of the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP). This ensures robust oversight of government’s most complex and strategically significant projects and programmes. The government is taking action by updating the GMPP to ensure the most critical and complex projects receive robust scrutiny and oversight. The portfolio has recently been updated, increasing in size by 50% to reflect the full range of major projects delivering government priorities. Further, from April 2021 government departments will be required to collect and report improved project performance data including on; productivity, sustainability, levelling up and innovation to the IPA. From April 2021, all major infrastructure projects on the GMPP will be required to publish a summary business case following final approval, a close out report following completion and a long-term evaluation five to ten years into operation. Over time this will create an evidence base to support continuous improvement and further policy reform. Strong and accountable leadership is vital to the success of the government’s infrastructure agenda and essential for successful delivery across every stage of the infrastructure lifecycle. The government is already investing in building the capability of its leaders through the Major Projects Leadership Academy and But to build better, greener and faster, the government needs to drive a step change in capability, culture and behaviour. The government needs to equip those accountable for the success of projects – Senior Responsible Owners (SROs), Accounting Officers and Ministers – with the skills and tools they need, and ensure clear accountability, both for project delivery The government is accelerating investment in major project expertise and leadership skills • Recruiting a pool of major projects experts, deployed directly into departments, to boost leadership capacity and capability in government major projects, and filling critical gaps in professional delivery roles across the government’s major project portfolio; • Creating a better deal for major project SROs to boost capability and capacity across government, by taking forward work to reform selection, remuneration arrangements, grade structures and support, which will attract and retain top talent; and • Setting a requirement for projects to demonstrate SRO capability and capacity through approvals gates, to ensure projects are resourced with leaders with the right level of experience and time to focus To complement these reforms, the government is putting in place a new rigorous approach to standards and professional accreditation to build a sustainable • Establishing a new Government Projects Academy to set professional standards and equip people across government with the expert skills needed to deliver major projects successfully, putting world class delivery, modern methods and sustainable practices at the heart of training practices. This would be open to project leaders from across the public sector and local government including making new scholarships available to project

• Introducing a rigorous new approach to developing and accrediting project professionals at all levels, from foundation to mastery, starting in 2021, with standards set by the new Government • Establishing training on major project delivery as a core expectation for Ministers and senior officials as senior sponsors of infrastructure projects, to build understanding of how best to support and challenge major projects to help them succeed. This package of reforms will revolutionise the way government operates and transform the way infrastructure projects are delivered, leading to a step-change in delivery speed and quality. Project Speed has been an effective tool for galvanising Whitehall and industry, challenging the status quo and driving change. However, the job is not yet complete. The taskforce will continue to remove obstacles in the process of delivering infrastructure, challenge assumptions, and develop, test and iterate reforms on case study projects. The reforms will be rolled out across the breadth of the government’s infrastructure portfolio through the settlements agreed at Spending Review 2020 and future events. The government will remain committed to effective infrastructure delivery, implementing reforms at pace, removing barriers to delivery and continuing to test current assumptions. This will ensure that the government’s ambitious infrastructure pipeline is delivered better, greener and faster. This Strategy sets out the government’s plans to transform its approach to infrastructure policy and delivery, to meet both the short- and long-term challenges facing the UK. This • Provides a long-term perspective without ignoring shorter-term the Strategy puts recent spending announcements in context, emphasises the value of infrastructure investment to support the economic recovery, but also looks beyond the Spending Review to the government’s longer- • Sets out clear goals and plans to achieve the government has set out clear ambitions across all economic infrastructure sectors, focused on recovery, levelling up and decarbonisation. These ambitions are underpinned by clear actions, with more detail to come in some areas over the coming weeks and months, with more detail to come in some areas over the coming weeks and months.
• Announces, multi-year funding commitments for key infrastructure programmes to back up its ambitions, with more details to come at the next Spending Review in 2021. It makes clear that where policy is devolved, the devolved administrations benefit from funding, through the Barnett formula, enabling their investment to support people and business in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Strategy also sets out the government’s plans to review the National Infrastructure Commission’s • Confirms the government’s commitment to fundamentally change the way it considers and delivers infrastructure across the whole of the UK. It matches the spirit and ambition of the NIC’s National Infrastructure Assessment, in many places exceeding their recommendations. However, this Strategy isn’t the final word on the government’s infrastructure plans – it instead represents the first step of a multi-year process to transform the UK’s infrastructure networks. The ambitions set out here will be further strengthened by the next Spending Review in 2021. This Strategy will also be enhanced by a series of related publications over the next 12 months, setting out further details on key areas of infrastructure policy, • The Union Connectivity Review • The Net Zero Review final report • The National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline • Transforming Infrastructure Performance 2021 • A transport decarbonisation plan • The English Devolution and Local Recovery • An electric vehicle charging infrastructure strategy • A heat and buildings strategy • An industrial decarbonisation strategy • A refreshed Industrial Strategy Taken together, these documents will set out the full scope and scale of the government’s ambitions to level up and unite the country, decarbonise the economy, and revolutionise how the UK funds Much of the UK’s infrastructure was built at a time when the needs of disabled people were not sufficiently prioritised. The consequence has been decades of retrofitted solutions – often expensive, unattractive, and achieving only ‘accessibility’. It is vital that the UK’s future infrastructure is fully inclusive of everyone, including Britain’s 14.1 million disabled people. The government is determined to transform the lives of disabled people, who for far too long have encountered barriers to enjoying the day to day activities and opportunities that others can take for granted. Infrastructure is a key part of this, and in Spring 2021 the government will publish a National Strategy for Disabled People, expanding on the ways that the government will pursue inclusion and extend opportunities for disabled people across all aspects

The NIC’s exceptional analysis underpins many of the measures announced in this Strategy, and their National Infrastructure Assessment has influenced government decision making since its publication in 2018. Looking forward, the NIC will now begin preparations for the second ‘National Infrastructure Assessment’ due for publication in 2023. This new, comprehensive review of the UK’s evolving infrastructure priorities will have to take the ambitions and plans set out in this Strategy into account. It will also have to assess the longer-term impact of COVID-19 on economic infrastructure sectors, including any behaviour and technological changes catalysed by the pandemic. In the meantime, the government has identified new priorities for the NIC for 2021, and is commissioning a new study on greenhouse gas removal technologies which will report next summer. The NIC will provide recommendations to government • the technologies that should be deployed to deliver • the policies needed to incentivise the rollout • the timeline of decisions needed by government to enable the UK to use negative emission technologies to achieve net zero. The term of reference for this work have been published alongside this Strategy. The government is also committed to ensuring the NIC maintains its reputation as an impartial, expert body. Building on the new and re-appointments announced earlier this year,70 the government will shortly launch a competition to appoint several additional Commissioners. This will help strengthen the NIC’s expertise in key areas – including local government and environmental issues – and increase the diversity The government will also review the NIC’s role and responsibilities in 2021, including updating their Charter and Framework documents if necessary, to ensure the Commission can continue to shape and support this government’s infrastructure ambitions. This work will be carried out alongside a review of the NIC’s fiscal remit. Since the National Infrastructure Assessment was published in 2018, the NIC has also produced three separate on freight, economic regulation and resilience. The response to the NIC’s regulation recommendations has been provided in ‘Government response to NIC regulation study – Strategic investment and public confidence.’ The Department for Transport will also provide a formal response to the The NIC resilience report, ‘Anticipate, React, Resilient infrastructure systems’, published in May 2020, proposes a new framework for resilience and makes a series of recommendations to government to help ensure infrastructure operators can deliver and maintain truly resilient infrastructure. The current public health situation has shown that unpredictable ‘black swan’ events can and do happen, and that preparedness for these shocks is vital. In light of COVID-19, and given the ever-present threat of climate change, there is a stronger case to talk about resilience of infrastructure – both in the context of the current pandemic and also the increasing risks from climate change and other threats. The government will therefore respond in full to the NIC report in early 2021. 1 Provisional Emissions, on a source basis, mapped to CCC sectors, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, 2019 2 ‘Experimental comparisons of infrastructure across Europe’, ONS, May 2019. ‘The effect of the size and the mix of public spending on growth and inequality’, J Fournier and Å. Johansson, OECD Economics Department Working Papers No.1344, November 2016.
3 ‘The Global Competitiveness Report 2019’, World Economic Forum, 4 ‘Hours spent in road congestion annually’, JRC using TomTom data, 5 ‘Digital Economy and Society Index 2020 (DESI)’, European 6 See 1, J Fournier and Å Johansson 7 ‘National Infrastructure Assessment’, National Infrastructure 8 Excluding Barnett consequentials 9 ‘Why does birthplace matter so much?’, Journal of Urban Economics, 10 ‘Action for A network for the 21st Century’, Department for 11 ‘Statistics on transport use during the coronavirus pandemic’, Department for Transport, November 2020 12 ‘Gear a bold vision for cycling and walking’, Department for 13 ‘Annual bus England 2018/19’, Department for Transport, 14 ‘Transport Statistics Great Britain 2019: Moving Britain Ahead’, Department for Transport, 201915 ICE State of the Nation 2020, Infrastructure-and-the-net-zero-target 15 ‘Five largest OECD fixed and mobile broadband markets’, OECD, 16 ‘Online shopping continues to grow’, European 17 HM Treasury calculations based on ‘Improving Broadband’, National 18 HM Treasury calculations based on data from ‘Connected Nations’, Ofcom, and data from thinkbroadband, 19 ‘Connected Nations Summer 2020’, Ofcom, September 2020 20 ‘Measuring the Impact of Proximity and Transport Performance’, International Transport Forum, 2019 21 ‘Aviation 2050: The Future of UK Aviation’, HM Government, 22 Department for Transport analysis of UK Civil Aviation Authority 23 ‘Population estimates for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern mid-2019’, Office for National Statistics,June 2020. 24 ‘The Low Carbon Economy Index’, PWC, 2019 25 ‘The Economics of Climate The Stern Review’, Cambridge 26 ‘State of the Nation 2020: Infrastructure and the Net Zero target’, Institute of Civil Engineers, July 2020 27 ‘Reducing UK 2020 Progress Report’, Committee on 28 ‘Energy Prices and 2017’, Committee on Climate Change, 29 Provisional UK Emissions 2019 – mapped to Committee on Climate Change sectors, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy 30 ‘Energy consumption in the UK’, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, October 2020 31 ‘Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES) 2019’, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, July 2019 35 ‘Net Zero Technical Report’, Committee on Climate Change, May 2019 36 ‘Energy in Brief’, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial 37 ’Clean the UK Carbon Capture Usage and Storage deployment pathway’, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial 41 Analysis of National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory 2017 Data, by Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy 42 ‘Provisional UK greenhouse gas emissions national statistics’, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, 2019 43 ‘Transport statistics Great Britain’, Department for Transport, 44 ‘London’s electric bus fleet becomes the largest in Europe’, London 47 ‘Low carbon and renewable energy economy, UK 2018’, Office for National Statistics, January 2020 48 ’Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation’, National Audit 49 Sub-national Electricity and Gas Consumption’, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, December 2019 50 ‘Green Book Supplementary Guidance on Accounting for the Effects of Climate Change’, HM Treasury, February 2012 51 ‘Floods and coastal erosion risk management – policy statement’, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, July 2020 52 ‘National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline, 2018’, Infrastructure and Projects Authority, November 2018 53 Strategic Investment and Public Confidence’, National Infrastructure 54 ‘What do energy networks do for you?’, Ofgem, February 2017 55 ‘Reducing UK 2020 Progress Report’, Climate Change 56 ‘Third years on, what has privatisation achieved?’, Water UK, July 57 ‘Building Digital UK’, Department for Culture, Media & Sport, 58 ‘2019 Price Final determinations’, Ofwat, December 2019 59 ‘Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review’, Department for Culture, 60 ‘UK Energy in Brief 2020’, Office for National Statistics, July 2020 61 ‘The Power of Pensions’, Legal & General, June 2020 62 ‘Amendment of COBS 21.3 permitted link rules – final rules and feedback to CP18/40’, Financial Conduct Authority, March 2020 63 ‘Offshore windfarm links tendering regime enters fifth round with projects worth £2 billion’, Ofgem, September 2016 64 ‘Planning for the Future’, Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local 65 ‘Environment Bill resumes passage through Parliament’, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, November 2020 66 ‘Analysis of the National Infrastructure and Construction Procurement Pipeline 2020/21’, Infrastructure and Projects 67 ‘Briefing Paper 01432: Construction statistics and policy’, 68 Construction Statistics, Great 2018, Office for National 69 ‘What do utility strikes really cost?’, L. Makana, N. Metje, I. Jefferson, and C. Rogers, University of Birmingham, 2016; and ‘Causes, impacts and costs of strikes on buried utility assets’, N. Metje, A. Bilal, S. Crossland, Institute of Civil Engineers, 2015 70 ‘National Infrastructure Commission boosted by new appointments’,