Keynote address with Georgia Gould MP, Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office
Directory of Strategy
Nearly a year on from the election, remaking the heart of the State has never been more important. The Government has ambitious priorities to deliver at home, new threats to deal with abroad, and a stagnating economy to kickstart. There is an immense opportunity, but also real risk, and the Government is relying on Whitehall to help it deliver. Only by reforming itself can the institution of the civil service be ready to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.
Yesterday we brought together civil service leaders for our annual ‘Re:Imagining Whitehall’ conference at the BT Tower, to discuss what next for the civil service reform agenda. We were delighted to host Georgia Gould MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office, to give the keynote address and have a conversation with our Director Charlotte Pickles.
Here are my three main takeaways:
- Place-based innovation. Georgia used her address to announce place-based pilots for missions in Leeds, Sheffield and Darlington, supported by specific local teams bringing the civil service hubs in those areas together with local government and other delivery partners. As we reflected in our recent ‘Beyond Whitehall’ conference in Darlington, co-location is the beginning, not the end, of real devolution and public service integration.
- Test and learn, value for money, and devolution. These goals often seem in tension, and but that same tension has contributed to the status quo of risk-averse, bad-value and highly-centralised public services. But driving all three forward in parallel will need a new plan for accountability in the system. Who will be praised if local innovations go well, and who will be blamed? How can we locate accountability with those best placed to take decisions?
- Social value and procurement. One attendee asked about whether the Government’s plans to get greater social and economic value from their supplier relationships are in tension with saving more public money and using SMEs more in the supply chain. As we highlighted in our recent paper Everythingism, social value can distract government organisations from getting the best direct value from public procurement. Requirements vary hugely from contract to contract and are never tracked or reported on. Simplification is a win-win for everyone.