The National Audit Office is the government’s external auditor and supports Parliament in holding the government to account for its use of public money. In 2017, the NAO assessed the value for money of the government’s deal to support construction of Hinkley Point C, the first new nuclear power station to be built in the UK for over 20 years. This talk will explain how the National Audit Office assessed the government’s deal and what its report found. It will also set out the risks and opportunities for the government in taking forward both the Hinkley Point C project and its wider nuclear energy programme.

Simon Bittlestone manages value-for-money studies of government spending, specializing in energy. In 2017, he managed the NAO’s value-for-money study on the government’s deal for Hinkley Point C, which recommended that the government consider alternative models for financing new nuclear power stations. He has also reported on the government’s most recent auction for contracts for difference and its competition for carbon capture and storage projects. Most recently he published a report on the costs of decommissioning the UK’s oil and gas assets. In 2018, Simon was internally seconded to work on the NAO’s Brexit programme and managed the report assessing the government’s estimate of the cost of the financial settlement.

All are welcome. Lunch will be provided at 12.15pm.