Committee publication · Correspondence · 27 March 2026
Letter from the Clerk of the House to the Chair of the Committee on the Commons Building and Infrastructure Portfolio (CBIP), 23 March 2026
Summary
Letter from the Clerk of the House to the Finance Committee Chair addressing concerns about Commons Building and Infrastructure Portfolio (CBIP) costs. The Clerk confirms current planned expenditure represents value for money and commits to greater transparency through publication of full project scope, delivery programme, and detailed budgets aligned with Managing Public Money standards.
Key findings
- Clerk has consulted Finance Director and confirms current CBIP expenditure represents value for money
- Estimated additional cost of £300-600m is considered acceptable within value-for-money assessment
- CBIP will publish full scope of works and delivery programme to address Committee's transparency concerns
- Detailed budgets will be provided through business case process; post-procurement breakdown will be published in Managing Public Money-compliant format
- Clerk offers continued support for Committee scrutiny and further discussion with CBIP colleagues
Tone
ProceduralTopics
public-financeparliament-operationsinfrastructuretransparencyprocurement
Key actors
Tom Goldsmith, Clerk of the House, Finance Committee, Commons Building and Infrastructure Portfolio (CBIP), Finance Director
Notable line
“CBIP is prepared to publish the full scope of works and the delivery programme and is assembling the material needed to enable this.”
Key Quotes
“I am content that the current planned expenditure represents value for money.”
“CBIP is prepared to publish the full scope of works and the delivery programme and is assembling the material needed to enable this.”
“To protect value for money during the procurement process, once procurements are complete the detailed breakdown will be submitted …”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗