Capability Reviews: Progress and Next Steps - The Civil Service

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Case study: The DCSF Group‘As part of the DfES response to the Capability Review findings (July 2006),a number of key delivery partners, such as the Qualifications and CurriculumAuthority, the National College for School Leadership and the Teacher DevelopmentAgency, were invited to work with the department to create a senior managementgroup (members include the Permanent Secretary and board members, chiefexecutives and also periodically the chairs of the delivery partners) that would focusacross the whole of the education and skills policy and delivery systems. 1 During itsearly months, the group recognised its joint delivery responsibilities, with itsmembers as leaders and managers of the system as well as of their ownorganisations’ contributions to delivery. At the instigation of members, it has movedfrom a focus on building relationships and sharing information to developing aprogramme of work to add value to system strategy and delivery, and, following themachinery of government changes in summer 2007 (to create the new DCSF),it now focuses on the whole children’s services network.The group meets monthly, and has a high attendance rate (evidence of the prioritythat members give to this work), taking input from all members in developingsolutions to shared issues. This has made a big difference in understanding theconcerns of different parties within the wider context of the entire delivery chain. Inthe examination of delivery issues, the way in which the new DCSF and othergovernment departments need to change, in order to improve their interaction withdelivery partners and to maximise the opportunities for success, has been apparent.Group members are working together to define their contribution to delivery in termsof the new PSAs and Departmental Strategic Objectives. For example, officials areworking together with partners to apply a new process to ensure that deliverypartners’ remit letters reflect the contribution the organisations must make todelivery of the department’s Delivery Agreements, whilst recognising eachorganisation’s particular constitutional position and its system leadership role.The group has contributed to strategic thinking around the recently publishedChildren’s Plan, which will shape the DCSF’s and partners’ agendas for yearsto come.The more honest and open exchange of views and recognition of the shareddelivery challenges is leading to more fundamental transparency, with the groupregularly discussing performance issues relating to the component parts of thedelivery chain as well as the delivery chain as a whole.1Specialist groups also operate (finance directors, chief information officers, communications and security, etc).54COMMON CAPABILITY GAPS: PROGRESS AND NEXT STEPS
The group is expanding to include local authority and government officerepresentation, recognising the important elements of the delivery chain theyrepresent and the need to engage them in system leadership issues if deliverythroughout the chain is to be improved. A key tactic to build this wider leadershipteam is a planned ‘Top 100’ event (similar to the Whitehall Top 200 group), wheredepartmental and partners’ senior leaders will work together to understand whatsystem leadership means in their delivery context, establish clearly the contributionthey make and devise strategies for delivery of the Children’s Plan.Feedback from group members on its value in the first year has been positive.Steve Munby, Chief Executive of the National College for School Leadership,said: “The group has enabled delivery partners to understand and engage inthe bigger picture with the department for the first time for some time.”’Where departments are making less progress, we are seeing:• no clear operating model and reorganisations enacted without a clear rationale;• respective roles and responsibilities of the department and its delivery bodies areunclear; and• effective relationship management at board level not reflected throughout thewider department.Departments are finding that in many policy areas their ability to deliver isincreasingly dependent on their ability to deliver with and through a highly complexnetwork of delivery partners. Doing this effectively requires that departments havea robust understanding of their delivery chain, in order to produce workable deliveryplans and to ensure that the model for delivery is effective and efficient. Theemerging concept of a ‘delivery model’ that describes the totality of how the deliverychain is set up to deliver provides a helpful foundation, but more needs to be done tosupport departments in getting this right.Some progress has been made. In developing published Delivery Agreements forthe new PSAs, departments were required to map their delivery chains. This hasraised awareness of the importance of having an effective delivery model.Key challenges are set out below:• Creating a strategic centre. This continues to be challenging. Some departmentsare embarking on ambitious programmes to create cores that look significantlydifferent, focusing on strategy, relationship management, commissioning andnetworks, and working in much more flexible and devolved ways. It is too early totell how effective this may be. Previous attempts to make similar reforms have runinto difficulties around the delineation of roles and responsibilities, and it requiresspecific skill sets within departments both to carry out the changes required andalso to operate effectively within a more strategic centre.CAPABILITY REVIEWS: PROGRESS AND NEXT STEPS55
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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 and 52: The Tranche 3 report identified the
Page 53: Case study: The Home Office Strateg
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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