DAO 04/25 letter: New guidance on publishing business cases for major projects and programmes
Published 16 July 2025
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New guidance on publishing business cases for major projects and programmes
Dear Accounting Officer
Contact
Please address enquiries to businesscases@hmtreasury.gov.uk
Action
Accounting officers shall publish a Summary Business Case, Full Business Case or Programme Business Case for relevant projects and programmes on the Government Major Projects Portfolio. Each Accounting Officer should ensure they and relevant staff in their organisations are familiar with the relevant Treasury guidance.
Context
At Autumn Budget 2024, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the government would increase transparency of investment decisions by publishing business cases for major projects and programmes.
The requirements for the publication of business cases for projects and programmes on the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) took effect from 11 June 2025. The Treasury has published guidance setting out the detail of these requirements. [footnote 1]
For projects, departments must publish a Summary Business Case or Full Business Case on the collections page on GOV.UK [footnote 2] and deposit a copy in the House of Commons Library within four months of the Treasury’s formal approval of the Full Business Case.
For programmes, departments must publish a Summary Business Case or Programme Business Case on the collections page on GOV.UK[footnote 3] and deposit a copy in the House of Commons Library within four months of the Treasury’s formal approval, subject to agreement with the relevant Treasury spending team that the business case is sufficiently mature.
The Library may ask to see a specific ministerial commitment requiring the deposit. If so, departments should point to the ministerial statement made by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 11 July 2025[footnote 4].
The new guidance is intended to support ministerial and non-ministerial departments, agencies, public bodies, and independent bodies to meet this requirement. It covers relevant topics including the expected contents of a publication, the recommended approach to information security, and the steps involved in preparing for publication.
I hope you find this new guidance useful. As always, the Treasury stands ready to assist accounting officers wherever helpful.