The Government’s new head of ‘value for money’ is an executive who was previously in charge of money drains including the restoration of Parliament and the London 2012 Olympics – and sits on the board of HS2.
David Goldstone was appointed to the new Office for Value for Money as Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled her budget on Wednesday – chosen, the Treasury said, because of his ‘strong track record of delivering value for money’.
But he previously oversaw the delivery of the Olympics in London – which ran more than three times over its £2.4billion budget at almost £9bn – and was also chief executive of the £4bn project to restore the Palace of Westminster.
The latter has been beset by delays, and Mr Goldstone was criticised by MPs last year for picking up a £168,000 bonus on top of us £311,000 salary in the job despite the project moving at a glacial pace.
He has also sat on the board of HS2 as a Treasury-nominated representative – seemingly trying to keep the already massively over-budget project from costing even more.
David Goldstone has been appointed as the new Office for Value for Money following yesterday’s budget
Mr Goldstone oversaw the delivery of the London 2012 Olympics – which arrived at three times the expected budget – and the subsequent East London regeneration
Mr Goldstone was the boss of the body in charge of the restoration of the Houses of Parliament until earlier this year – when he quit to ‘step back from full-time executive roles’
He now sits as the Treasury’s representative on the HS2 board. The budget for the project has exploded over the years even as parts of the line have been cancelled
Mr Goldstone has been appointed to ‘provide expert advice personally’ to the Chancellor and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones.
But Ms Reeves could not tell LBC how much he would be paid, sparking questions about transparency within the new office tasked with rooting out government waste.
He joined HS2 as a Treasury-nominated non-executive director in June – five months after it emerged the high-speed railway was running massively over budget even after the previous Tory governments scrapped parts of the line.
HS2 put the price for the London to Birmingham leg at £67billion in 2024 prices – up from the total £37.5bn cost for the complete network predicted by Gordon Brown’s government in 2009.
The Chancellor said yesterday tunnelling work to bring HS2 into London Euston would receive the ‘funding required’. She did not provide a figure, but the work is thought to be worth around £1bn.
There had been fears the track would end at Old Oak Common, in west London, but HS2 is now guaranteed to connect central London with Birmingham.
Part of the line’s original route, north of Birmingham, was ditched by previous Tory governments.
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said: ‘It would make absolutely no sense to end HS2 in Old Oak Common. That’s why this Labour Government is doing the right thing and delivering HS2 to Euston.’
Addressing the Commons yesterday, Ms Reeves told MPs: ‘I can confirm today that David Goldstone has been appointed as the chair of the new Office for Value for Money to help us realise the benefits from every pound of public spending.’
Mr Goldstone will be in the role for one year until October 30 2025, with the ‘possibility of extension’, according to the Treasury, and will have a team of 20 people behind him managed by a senior civil servant day-to-day.
The OVfM will ‘root out waste and inefficiency’, according to a new page on the Government’s website, and develop recommendations for how to make the most out of ‘every pound of public spending’.
But Conservative leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch was sceptical over the need for the Office for Value for Money, telling LBC: ‘We are constantly trying to solve problems with more clangers, more bureaucrats, more politicians.
‘This is not how you deliver growth. We should be able to determine value for money within the civil service itself. If they cannot do that, then I have no confidence that an Office for Value for Money will know how to do that.’
The Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal Programme, meanwhile, is assessing its options after it emerged last year the cost of a full decant of MPs working there to other buildings had ballooned from £4bn to £11bn.
A highly critical letter written by Dame Meg Hillier, then chair of the Public Accounts Committee, noted MPs’ ‘surprise’ at Mr Goldstone receiving a bonus.
It read: ‘We also note from the 2022-23 published report and accounts for the Delivery Authority Mr Goldstone received a performance award of £168,000 on top of his salary, which surprised us given the slow pace of the programme.’
Restoration bosses told Politico previously: ‘Those who did receive bonuses were assessed to have delivered in accordance with a range of performance objectives and targets.’
Mr Goldstone quit that role at the end of March – and it took until this time last week to find his replacement, who will only take charge next February.
As he quit the parliamentary restoration body, he told staff he wished to ‘step back from full-time executive roles’, reported Construction News.
Mr Goldstone has held a number of other public sector roles – including a non-executive director role with the MoD’s Submarine Delivery Agency, for which he receives a salary of £20-25,000.
He was also a member of energy quango GB Nuclear’s project and programmes committee.
The Oxford graduate was also chief operating officer of the UK Ministry of Defence from 2017 to 2020, and ran the London Legacy Development Corporation from 2014 until 2017 overseeing the regeneration of parts of London after the Olympics.
Mr Goldstone said of his new appointment: ‘I look forward to working within government over the coming year to bring renewed focus to ensuring we deliver maximum value for the public in how money is spent.’
The Treasury was contacted for comment.
