moj-improvement-plan-april-2014

Annex B – Methodology
Our plan has been informed by a rigorous data collection and analysis process.
We conducted a series of interviews with our Ministers, Executive and Non-Executive Board
members to explore their views on our strengths and weaknesses. In addition, we undertook
interviews with an extensive range of colleagues throughout the Department and our agencies,
as well as with relevant stakeholders in other organisations. The results of our 2013 staff
engagement survey provided further understanding of views from our staff. Our data was also
informed through a wide collection of recent reviews and reports relating to the work of the
Department. Through discussion with colleagues across the Department, we also surveyed
existing work taking place across the Department to improve capability.
To inform our plan, we held a series of workshops with representatives from across the
Department and its agencies. In these workshops we analysed the evidence we had collected,
drawing out the most important themes and how these had been represented by different
interviewees. These themes drove the development of a draft plan, which was then assured via
our Executive Committee. This assurance process considered both the major themes; and the
detail underpinning them. The plan was then presented to our Departmental Board for further
agreement. This plan has also been discussed by our Permanent Secretary, Ursula Brennan, and
the Head of the Civil Service, Sir Bob Kerslake: further improvements followed this process.
Throughout, we have worked particularly closely with one of our non-executives, Fields Wicker-
Miurin, who has provided rigorous and thoughtful challenge to the development of our plan.
For consistency, all data are from the same time point in time where possible. All financial data is
expressed in nominal figures unless otherwise stated.
36 | Improvement Plan