This from the National Audit Office...
Work in progress: Cancellation of the competition for the Intercity West Coast franchise
Study outline
The Secretary of State for Transport announced
today (29 October 2012) the interim findings of the Laidlaw Inquiry
into the reasons for the cancellation of the competition for the
Intercity West Coast franchise. The Department has also given the
National Audit Office access to many of the documents and other
evidence supplied to the Laidlaw Inquiry. On the basis of that
examination we can confirm that the information that we have seen
supports the initial findings made by the Laidlaw Inquiry on what
happened and the contributory factors.
As the Laidlaw Inquiry has highlighted,
there are limitations on the conclusions that we too can draw at
this stage. We are conducting further inquiries and once
these are completed, we will report to Parliament to provide
assurance including on the extent to which wider issues are
raised and are likely to affect the Department’s other
projects and programmes, for example concerning:
- the Department’s approach to developing and quality assuring models and other technical tools which it uses;
- the operation of key committees including the information provided to them and how decisions are recorded;
- the rigour with which the Department follows required processes; and
- the skills and capacity available to run projects and programmes.
Reporting schedule
We aim to publish this report before Christmas 2012.ENDS
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