Capability Reviews: Progress and Next Steps - The Civil Service

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Case study: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and itssponsored bodies‘DCMS delivers outcomes through ‘arm’s length’ relationships with a wide range ofpublic bodies. These include NDPBs such as Arts Council England, Sport Englandand English Heritage, and museums and galleries such as the Imperial WarMuseum and the Tate.The Capability Review of DCMS recommended that the department shouldexamine and more clearly define where and how it can add value to the sectors inwhich it operates. The review also recommended that the department should adopta more strategic and risk-based approach to its interactions with its sponsoredbodies in those sectors. Taking these steps would ensure that unnecessary andlow-value interactions and activities could be dispensed with, and resources andattention re-focused on those areas where the department really can make avaluable or unique contribution.Since publication of the Capability Review, DCMS has created an advisory board,bringing together the senior leadership team in the department with chiefexecutives and directors of some of the department’s key sponsored bodies.The role of the advisory board is to optimise DCMS’s relationship and strategiccollaboration with its major partners. It provides an external view on DCMS’sstrategic direction and cross-cutting issues, and advice on the structure andnature of delivery relationships and how to maximise their effectiveness indelivering the department’s strategic aims.In addition to the introduction of the advisory board, DCMS is undertaking arisk-based assessment of its sponsored bodies to enable it to define and agreethe appropriate level and nature of interaction between the department and NDPBs.Funding agreements covering the CSR period will be tailored to reflect the riskassessment of each body, and the department is reducing the administrative burdenit imposes on NDPBs by removing or streamlining regular and ad hoc informationrequests that do not add significant value.Taken together, these measures should help DCMS to make a more strategic andvaluable contribution to the sectors in which it operates.’At a year after the review:• A framework developed that clarifies the department’s delivery model and a clearshift to a more strategic centre; higher energy, sharper focus and greateremphasis on delivery in agencies (Home Office).52 COMMON CAPABILITY GAPS: PROGRESS AND NEXT STEPS
Case study: The Home Office Strategic Centre‘The Home Office established a small Strategic Centre in April 2007 as part of itsReform Programme commitments.The purpose of the Strategic Centre is to help the Home Office work better acrossits delivery areas as one department to improve delivery and protect the public.The Home Office has taken an innovative approach to the design of the StrategicCentre, separating it from professional and shared services and enabling it tofocus on supporting the Home Office board to make strategic choices anddrive performance.The Strategic Centre is a small, tightly coordinated virtual team of 120 staff whogive strategic advice to the Home Office board, are responsible for a small numberof the most critical processes and work closely with each other and with colleaguesacross the department, drawing on their advice and expertise.The most critical processes were identified as:• setting overall strategy and direction for the department;• allocating resources in line with the strategy; and• driving and supporting delivery of the department’s objectives.The Strategic Centre has been working through a mix of formal and informalmeans with:• a specific objective for heads of units for their Strategic Centre role;• a director general with responsibility for making the Strategic Centre work; and• fortnightly Senior Management Team meetings to identify key issues for thedepartment and develop joined-up advice for the Home Office board.The early results look promising for the new ways of working. For example, anew planning process was designed with wide-ranging input from across thedepartment, and preparation for operating reviews is done collaboratively betweenthe Strategic Centre and delivery areas. Another success has been betterintegration of IT strategies into the wider departmental strategy.’CAPABILITY REVIEWS: PROGRESS AND NEXT STEPS53
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 and 48: Our challenge now is to ensure that
Page 49 and 50: • a more comprehensive approach t
Page 51: The Tranche 3 report identified the
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

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