All government departments are to have a dedicated “delivery team” with high-ranking leadership, as part of efforts to improve capacity and capability outlined by chief secretary to the prime minister Darren Jones.
Jones said the requirement would be flexible and acknowledged that some departments already have a delivery team. However, he said that there is a clear need to improve operations at other departments and share best practice.
The chief secretary to the PM said that the plans followed the introduction of a new shared-intelligence platform that connects departments and the No.10 Delivery Unit, offering a shared view of priorities, progress against them and problems encountered.
In a speech to the annual conference of civil service leaders' union the FDA yesterday, Jones said it is hoped that extending the current delivery expertise across departments and “integrating it properly in the centre of government” will bring ministers and civil servants closer together.
“Today I'm announcing that every department across Whitehall will be setting up a delivery team led by a top civil servant to do that work on behalf of ministers and permanent secretaries,” he said. “Some departments have models already. Some don't. There won't be a one size fits all requirement from the centre, but we have best practice shared between departments about how a senior delivery unit can help to identify barriers and escalate to ministers and to No.10.”
Jones added that as well as improving delivery, the plans could also save money.
“Currently the delivery capacity and capability across departments is inconsistent, which can often lead to things like significant sums of external consultancy,” he said. “I want to build that capacity, reasonably, in house, within and across our departments.”
New delivery experts to be parachuted in
As part of his announcement, Jones said he will also work with senior ministers to “bring in people with experience delivering frontline public services or in business into their private offices to scrutinise the pace and ambition of departmental delivery plans”.
Jones described the work as “probably the biggest change in private office arrangements” since special advisers were introduced in the 1960s.
“This could involve dedicated non-executive directors on our departmental boards, but also the integration of new delivery advisors into the private offices of secretaries of states and ministers of state,” he said.
Jones subsequently clarified that he expects the new advisers to be apolitical and “appointed in line with existing civil service rules”.
He said he had considered making the advisers spads, but decided not to.
More civil service reform
Elsewhere, Jones referenced part of the King’s speech to parliament on Wednesday, in which the government pledged to bring forward proposals to “strengthen the delivery, accountability, innovation and productivity” of the civil service.
Jones said that as a minister he had “too often” found that getting things done in practical, straightforward ways could be stifled by constitutional silos that can pitch department against department.
“I was delighted to work with the cabinet secretary to secure in the King's speech yesterday a commitment to review potential legislative changes to allow a more one-team approach across the civil service, which instead incentivises delivery in the public interest, as well as rebuilding trust in government,” he said.
“This review will look at delivery, innovation and productivity, while also safeguarding the impartiality or values of the service.”
Jones added: “We reserve the right to legislate to build a governance model in our civil service that meets the challenges of the modern day.
“It is only when we are 100% on the same page with each other; when we have the same priorities; sharing the same need to deliver for the public; and the same understanding of the risks we may need to take to succeed, that the relationship between ministers and civil servants and between departments can be one of complete trust.”
New taskforce pilots
In his speech, Jones also gave an update on his January announcement about plans for “peacetime” taskforces – based on the success of the Johnson government’s Vaccine Taskforce – to “bulldoze delivery problems”.
The new taskforces are expected to make it easier for government to deliver and to innovate, through faster decision-making, ministerial risk-sharing, the ability to hire quickly and bring in external expertise, and higher delegated spending authority.
“I am delighted to confirm today that we started the first two pilots of these taskforces,” Jones told the FDA conference. “One that will improve data sharing across the criminal justice system, helping probation officers better monitor and rehabilitate offenders in the community with work taking place between the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office.”
He added: “And a second will help battle the epidemic of violence against women and girls which we are seeing across the country, by working to improve and speed up the procurement of support services in communities across the country.”