Capability Reviews: Progress and Next Steps - The Civil Service

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• Prioritisation. When asked what would make the most difference to enablingchange to happen, the most common factor identified by the SCS was ‘clearobjectives’ – ‘real prioritisation: deciding what the key changes are and reallyfollowing them through’ and ‘clear communication … about goals andmechanisms for getting there, and being very clear about individual roles’. Factorshindering change included ‘too many competing priorities’ and ‘lack of commonobjectives and prioritisation’. There is a widespread perception within departmentsthat leaders are not setting priorities effectively enough, and this links back to thechallenge of developing strategies that are both deliverable and delivered.What is the centre doing to build capability in delivery and performance?Delivery and performance involves PMDU, HM Treasury, OGC, the Strategy Unit andTransformational Government. The heads of profession for operational delivery andpolicy delivery also have a key role in improving skills in this area.• Departments’ progress towards delivering the 30 new PSAs will be monitored andassessed by PMDU, which previously had a narrower focus on the PrimeMinister’s top priorities for delivery.Case study: Improving performance management in government‘Going forward, the Government has announced a new performance managementframework for the 2008–2011 CSR period. This includes a streamlined set of30 new PSAs, which set the Government’s priority outcomes for the next threeyears and span departmental boundaries, setting out a shared vision and leadingcollaboration at all levels in the delivery system. The new framework also includes:• a single Delivery Agreement for each PSA, developed in consultation withfront-line workers and the public, and published to strengthen accountabilityand ownership across organisational boundaries;• a key role for new Cabinet Committees which will drive performance on crossgovernmentPSAs by regularly monitoring progress and holding departments andprogrammes to account. The Government is also examining the scope for buildingPSAs explicitly into the performance management framework for the Civil Service –ensuring a relentless focus on PSA delivery in Whitehall;• a small basket of national, outcome-focused indicators to support each PSA,ensuring robust and transparent performance measurement alongside genuinerationalisation, with a significant reduction in the overall number of priorityindicators attached to PSAs;• targets used where appropriate to deliver improved performance andaccountability; with nationally set targets reserved for a small subset of PSAindicators that require firm central direction, and far greater space for increasedlocal target setting;48 COMMON CAPABILITY GAPS: PROGRESS AND NEXT STEPS
• a more comprehensive approach to performance monitoring, with eachdepartment publishing a set of Departmental Strategic Objectives for the CSR2007 period, alongside the smaller, prioritised set of PSAs. This will for the firsttime bring all performance monitoring into a single framework, covering both theGovernment’s highest priorities (PSAs) and the wider span of departmentalbusiness; and• across the whole framework, a premium on the use of high-quality, timely datawhilst freeing up the front line by reducing low-value data burdens.’• PMDU and the Capability Reviews Team are developing a new PSA review tool,which will focus on addressing capability gaps in areas such as leadership andcapacity, governance and accountability, and delivery models that can adverselyimpact delivery.• OGC operates the Gateway review process for projects and programmes andoffers guidance and tools and techniques for PPM.• The Strategy Unit has produced guidance on commissioning and works withdepartments on developing strategy.• The heads of profession for policy and operational delivery have developedvarious proposals for improving the deliverability of policy.• Sir David Varney has been appointed as the Prime Minister’s chief adviser onservice transformation, working closely with Alexis Cleveland as Director Generalof Service Transformation. He will also chair the Delivery Council, which will beresponsible for delivering the Service Transformation Agreement (STA) thatunderpins the whole PSA set.There needs to be an increased focus on delivery in departments and on sharingbest practice and learning in this area across government. PMDU has significantknowledge of what works in operational delivery and this should be disseminatedfurther, supplemented by learning from the new PSA reviews.Capability Reviews focus on the leadership team’s role in delivery. Civil servants lookto their leaders to set priorities, manage performance and develop strategies thatlead to improved performance and delivery. A key priority therefore is to ensure thatcurrent and future leaders are equipped to fill that role. Leadership development atall levels must have a firm focus on this.It is also important that the development of strategy and policies at the centre and indepartments is closely informed by delivery considerations. The dual reporting lineof PMDU to the Treasury and the Cabinet Office should improve this, as will thealignment of all PSAs with the STA.CAPABILITY REVIEWS: PROGRESS AND NEXT STEPS49
Page 1 and 2: Capability Reviews:Progress and Nex
Page 3 and 4: This has been an excellent example
Page 5 and 6: 1. Tranche 1 departments: a year on
Page 7 and 8: Department for Children, Schools an
Page 9 and 10: This will act as an innovative and
Page 11 and 12: • ‘Managing for improvement’:
Page 13 and 14: Home OfficeStarting from a low base
Page 15 and 16: Department’s wider agenda. Develo
Page 17 and 18: Ministry of JusticeThe MoJ was crea
Page 19 and 20: A number of significant programmes
Page 21 and 22: 2. Common capability gaps: progress
Page 23 and 24: later tranches have not been able t
Page 25 and 26: or hinder it:‘lack of leadership
Page 27 and 28: All of these aspects came together
Page 29 and 30: Case study: Collective leadership i
Page 31 and 32: • Engaging the wider SCS. This is
Page 33 and 34: Participants’ comments included:
Page 35 and 36: Consequently, the areas of focus su
Page 37 and 38: Building up the supply and demand s
Page 39 and 40: Case study: Development work with d
Page 41 and 42: Case study: A skills strategy for g
Page 43 and 44: The recent CSR has emphasised the i
Page 45 and 46: At six months after the review:•
Page 47: Our challenge now is to ensure that
Page 51 and 52: The Tranche 3 report identified the
Page 53 and 54: Case study: The Home Office Strateg
Page 55 and 56: The group is expanding to include l
Page 57 and 58: • The Sunningdale Institute facil
Page 59 and 60: Exhibit 3: Change trajectoriesCapab
Page 61 and 62: original reviews. The re-review wil
Page 63 and 64: Departments increasingly have to wo
Page 65 and 66: LeadershipKey questions that test c
Page 67 and 68: DeliveryKey questions that test cur
Page 69: Capability Reviews TeamCabinet Offi

Capability Reviews: Progress and Next Steps - The Civil Service

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