National Infrastructure Commission CEO appointed
Chancellor appoints Phil Graham as chief executive officer of National Infrastructure Commission
THE Chancellor has appointed Phil Graham as chief executive officer of the newly created National Infrastructure Commission (NIC). He joins the Commission from the Department for Transport, where he worked on many of the UK’s most important infrastructure projects.
As well as leading the development of the Government’s high-speed rail strategy, Mr Graham led the team supporting Sir Howard Davies’ Airports Commission and worked on the London Olympics.
Lord Adonis, interim chair of the NIC, said: ‘Phil Graham is supremely qualified to be the first CEO of the National Infrastructure Commission. He has done brilliant work on a wide range of nationally significant projects from high-speed rail to the London Olympics and most recently as Secretary of the Airports Commission.
‘He is an excellent public servant and I am confident he will be superb in his new role.’
On 5 October 2015, the Chancellor announced the creation of the National Infrastructure Commission to provide expert independent analysis of the long-term infrastructure needs of the country. The NIC has been working in shadow form since then.
The Commission will publish a National Infrastructure Assessment every Parliament setting out its analysis of the UK’s infrastructure needs over a 10- to 30-year horizon. The Government will be required formally to respond to the recommendations of the NIC.
The NIC has also been tasked with carrying out specific studies of pressing infrastructure challenges, and will have a remit which will ensure that it recommends infrastructure that is sustainable, affordable and provides real economic benefit.
Meanwhile, the Government announced in its recent Spending Review that it will publish a National Infrastructure Delivery Plan next spring, setting out in detail how it will deliver key projects and programmes over the next five years.
The Government has committed to invest more than £100 billion in infrastructure over the course of the current Parliament.
