Issue 1 - It was necessary to seek general legal advice to ensure that staff’s interpretation of the Rules were correct and that there were no other legal impediments.
Recommendation 1 - General legal advice should be sought at an early stage of the project to ensure there are no legislative impediments to any changes the project may bring about. Costs associated with this advice should be factored into the Business Case.
Issue 2 - The Regulations underpinning the project were laid before Parliament by the NIO and they conferred responsibility to the Department, but the Department did not have advance sight of the Regulations. A number of elements contained in the Regulations were unexpected and could not be planned for.
Recommendation 2 - The Department which is responsible for the implementation of any legislation should at least have advance sight of the Regulations which it will ultimately be responsible for the delivery of.
Issue 3 - There are a number of steps, procedures and Committees involved in changing court rules and this process is not straightforward. Sufficient time and planning need to be allowed for changes to secondary legislation.
Recommendation 3 - Establish a timeline and process map for the rules changes associated with the project as this should be a helpful resource in planning future rules changes.
Industry guidance/ further reading
PRINCE2, Managing successful projects with PRINCE2, 6th edition (2017), pp, 9, 34, 46, 83, 126, 134, 280