Introduction
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) (1) has the second largest number of projects and programmes in the Government’s Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP), with 27 projects and programmes at a whole-life cost of £85.2billion. The March 2023 Delivery Confidence assessment (2) rated 19 of these as ‘amber’, and one as ‘red’ with one of the cited risks included the complex nature of some of the transformation projects/programmes. Many of the trickiest projects in the MoJ portfolio sit in Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) change portfolio and are being delivered against a backdrop of significant and increasing demand pressures for courts and prison places, scarce resources and a shortage of specialist programme delivery skills. Yet there is huge pressure for these transformational programmes to deliver results and ensure the public are protected, reoffending reduces, and HMPPS can maintain performance despite huge budget reductions since 2010.
The Challenge
A large programme within HM Prison and Probation Services (HMPPS) (3) was looking for a programme ‘reset’ to improve the overall programme performance, after a stage-gate review had identified several ‘red’ and ‘amber’ risks and challenges. The programme had been having ongoing challenges with team capacity and leadership changes, and needed increased confidence that the existing plans were going to deliver on the expected benefits. Given the size and complexity of this programme, they agreed that independent assurance and acceleration would be beneficial and engaged our Leapwise team to support.
Our Approach
Through an initial set of leadership and programme team workshops, we reviewed and prioritised the key challenges within the programme against our critical success factors for major change (see VICTORY Framework here). This created rapid alignment with the leadership team on the largest strengths, weaknesses, and programme risks and a broader assessment than the previous stage gate reviews, focusing on cultural and skills-based strengths and challenges within the programme as much as traditional Programme and Project Management hygiene factors. Among other areas of focus identified, it was agreed that there was a need to build on the initial evidence-base for change that had been developed. This would require data-driven approaches to planning, project management and benefits management.
Over the following three months, we worked alongside the programme team to validate programme benefits and strengthen benefits management practices, focusing heavily on developing bespoke tools that were fit-for-purpose within HMPPS context, and upskilling the programme team on good practice. Due to the complexity of the programme, our approach broadened from the initial scope, and involved:
- Validating efficiency benefits and identifying key improvement benefits
- Assessing project data and plans to develop confidence ratings against each benefit
- Improving project plans with leads to address critical work gaps and risks, in order to improve confidence ratings
- Setting up a process improvement methodology and guidance
- Developing a benefits management strategy and approach that included tools, templates, and governance for tracking.
Work also ensured alignment with Ministry of Justice requirements and best practices on programme and project management.
Results
We were able to develop a robust process and tracking mechanism to enable the programme to capture target cashable savings and rapidly identify delivery shortfalls. We also established new workstreams within the programme to increase confidence in delivering the identified transformational benefits and were able to provide more holistic programme performance recommendations based on the critical success factors.
Key to this success was the ongoing collaboration with the HMPPS programme team, who embedded us into their programme team. The programme team were incredibly dedicated, going above and beyond in their roles, to improve their programme management practices with the goal of improving public outcomes.
“Leapwise worked alongside the team to achieve a clear line of sight between objectives and activity. What worked particularly well was the flexible and embedded approach that Leapwise took, adapting their focus to meet an evolving brief. I would look forward to working with Leapwise again.“
– Jim Barton, Executive Director, HMPPS Change
Please get in touch with our team to discuss programme benefits, and how we can help assure and / or accelerate in flight transformation programmes.
