APM’s head of external affairs responds to Queen’s speech

Responding to the Queen’s speech’s significant focus on infrastructure, David Thomson, head of external affairs at Association for Project Management (APM), said:

“In May Sir John Armitt, Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), laid out four tests that must be met if the ambitious vision presented in last year’s National Infrastructure Assessment (NIA) is to be realised in the government’s forthcoming National Infrastructure Strategy. These four tests continue to provide a practical criterion against which to assess the infrastructure and related announcements made by the Government in the Queen’s speech. 

“APM, the chartered body for the project profession, emphasises that the process for making long-term strategic investment decisions needs to reflect the changing decision-making landscape, and the varying needs of the public across the UK. It is imperative that a long-term perspective is adopted, with clear goals and specific plans set out in order to achieve them. Critically, a firm funding commitment must be adopted alongside a genuine commitment to change. The Queens’s speech covers a number of key challenges facing the UK from social care to implementing Grenfell reforms; from the NHS long term plan to broadband G5 plans. All require a long-term perspective to deliver them effectively.

“APM strongly advocates outcome-based spending decisions in central government, realising the potential of the new Public Value Framework and encouraging system-wide thinking that takes into account the expertise and capability of project management professionals. Understanding the context in which these announcements are made is fundamental to the approach taken by the government. Considering pertinent challenges presented by this fast-changing and complex world is central to ‘Projecting the Future’ a thought-leadership campaign launched by APM in June and spanning six challenges including ‘4IR: data, automation and AI’ to ‘Climate Change, Clean Growth and Sustainability’, and ‘Future Workplace, Future Skills’.

"APM’s recent report with PwC, The Golden Thread, showed that there are 2.13 million project professionals in the UK, delivering £156.Sbn of annual Gross Value Added (GVA) but despite its evident importance, the project management profession’s contribution is still often overlooked in strategic conversations about the future – ambitions plans must be matched with appropriate investment in capability to do so.”