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Treasury merges Infrastructure UK and Major Projects Authority

12 Nov 15 Infrastructure UK (IUK) and the Major Projects Authority (MPA) are being merged to create the Infrastructure & Projects Authority.

The government has announced that the two Treasury units are to be brought together to unite its in-house knowledge of managing major projects.

It will be headed by current MPA boss Tony Meggs. IUK chief Geoffrey Spence is leaving.

IUK is responsible for co-ordinating and simplifying the planning and prioritisation of investment in UK infrastructure; and for getting greater value for money on infrastructure projects.

The MPA’s core function is to develop programme management expertise within the civil service and intervene when projects go wrong.

The new organisation, which will be called the Infrastructure & Projects Authority, will bring together the operations of both organisations. It will come into formal existence on 1st January 2016, reporting jointly to the chancellor and the minister for the Cabinet Office.

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Its chief executive will be former BP executive Tony Meggs, who joined the MPA as interim chief executive in May 2015. IUK chief executive Geoffrey Spence, a banker and former special advisor to Labour chancellor of the exchequer Alistair Darling, is leaving government service “to pursue a new challenge in the private sector”.

Chancellor George Osborne said: “By bringing together Infrastructure UK with the Major Projects Authority, and creating the new National Infrastructure Commission, we are moving to the next stage in our plan to ensure Britain’s economy gets the transformational projects it needs.

“I’d like to thank Geoffrey Spence for the brilliant job he has done leading Infrastructure UK since July 2011. Under his leadership, IUK became a more effective organisation, successfully developing and implementing the UK’s National Infrastructure Plan, the UK Guarantee Scheme for infrastructure and a new model for private sector delivery of public service, PF2.”

Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock said: “The new Infrastructure & Projects Authority is a further step forward in delivering what Britain needs to prosper in the 21st century. By combining projects expertise with funding authority we will improve the government’s ability to deliver, and the economic security that comes with it. Tony Meggs has been a hugely respected chief executive of the MPA and has the leadership and capability to make the new organisation a great success.”

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