It’s taxpayer’s money Bill!
I was talking to a colleague yesterday who was under some pressure – a business colleague (let’s call him Bill for the sake of argument) was arguing forcibly that they didn’t need the “bureaucracy” of an investment appraisal because the project under review wasn’t a £2 billion programme. That may well be true but the investment, in terms of the project and running costs, still runs into many millions – and that’s taxpayers’ millions. Which means we need to be able to know the answer to three questions:
- What impact the project will have;
- That that impact can’t be achieved more cost effectively; and
- In an environment of funding constraints, it represents the best use of funding in light of the whole portfolio of change initiatives.
After all Bill, it is taxpayer’s money.