Establishing Governance for £100M in Grants: Supporting UK Marine & Fisheries

A key governmental organisation aimed to improve existing grant schemes and introduce new ones to support the UK’s fishing, aquaculture, and marine industries. These schemes were intended to promote sustainable development, conserve marine environments, and drive economic growth in coastal communities.

By September 2019, the project was classified as “Amber – in need of support” due to:

• Insufficient governance structures to oversee the schemes effectively.
• Limited engagement and buy-in from key stakeholders.
• Slow project progression despite an initial discovery and mapping budget of £1.7M.
• Complex cross-departmental requirements and the need for alignment with devolved administrations.

Reed Professional Services (RPS) was engaged to revitalise the project and establish a governance structure to manage the grant schemes effectively.

Key areas of focus included:

• Supporting policy development and operational design for the grant schemes.
• Developing and implementing management tools tailored to the project’s needs.
• Ensuring alignment and engagement across stakeholders, including internal teams, associated organisations, and external partners.

• Initial Assessment: Conducted a discovery phase to understand the maturity of existing governance structures and project capability.
• Governance Implementation: Created tailored management tools, including MS project plans, RAID logs, and Terms of Reference.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Maintained regular communication with departmental leaders, associated organisations, and external stakeholders to ensure alignment.
• Adapted Methodology: Applied a hybrid approach, combining Waterfall/Prince2 methodologies with Agile principles for user-centred design where applicable.
• Knowledge Transfer: Provided training, mentoring, and upskilling to internal teams, ensuring long-term sustainability of the governance structures.
• Covid-19 Adaptations: Transitioned to remote working while maintaining regular in-person sessions for project-critical updates and wellbeing support.

RPS successfully delivered a comprehensive governance infrastructure for the grant schemes, achieving:

• Efficient management of over £100M in government funding to support marine and fisheries initiatives.
• Strengthened alignment and collaboration among diverse stakeholders.
• Implementation of practical management tools to streamline project delivery and oversight.
• Extensive knowledge transfer, equipping internal teams to manage similar initiatives independently.

Impact:

This initiative significantly enhanced the sustainability and economic resilience of the UK’s fishing and marine sectors. RPS’s involvement ensured not only the successful delivery of the project but also long-term improvements in governance and operational capability, positioning the organisation for future success.