Under Labour, the Cabinet Office reviewed departments’ capabilities – but these days, departments examine their own performance before producing Capability Action Plans. Ben Willis sets out their findings, warts and all
Government departments are not naturally inclined towards public self-criticism, but the Labour government established a Capability Review system – and the coalition has retained it, albeit with examinations now conducted in-house rather than by Cabinet Office teams. So visible scrutiny has now become an obligatory part of departments’ performance monitoring, giving them a duty to publicly assess their ability to meet policy objectives and identify areas for improvement.
Twelve departments have recently published such reviews, now known as Capability Action Plans. These require departments to grade themselves green, amber-green, amber-red or red, according to their perceived strengths or weaknesses in 10 areas under the broad themes of leadership, strategy and delivery.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, no department gave itself the lowest, red grade against any category; overwhelmingly, the most common ranking was amber-green, suggesting that departments are broadly happy with their performance but recognise there is some room for improvement. However, departments are clearly finding some areas more challenging, with a number of performance themes receiving more amber-reds than any other ranking.
The most widespread recommendation concerned the need for departments to have clear delivery models in place to meet policy objectives, and to provide clarity over delivery roles and responsibilities among arm’s length bodies. Against this theme, seven departments – the Home Office; FCO; DH; DfT; DCMS; Defra; and HMRC – gave themselves an amber-red ranking.
Departments cited different reasons for finding this area challenging, but one issue that emerged was the difficulty of ensuring consistency in delivery at a time when budgetary constraints are forcing rapid change in the way departments and agencies work.
The Department of Health, for example, cited this as a particular challenge in the context of the organisational reforms taking place in the health service. It said the pace and scale of ongoing reforms meant that organisational and delivery models were being developed while the enabling legislation was still being debated in Parliament, and therefore carried some “uncertainty”. As a result, it said, the department will need to ensure clear communication to explain how the new systems will work, and retain the “agility” to adapt as necessary.
Although no department gave itself the highest green ranking for this theme, five reported stronger performance and awarded themselves amber-green ratings. One of these was the business department, which said in its report that it has “gripped” the issue of delivery over the past 18 months in response to the tough budgetary conditions.
“The tight Comprehensive Spending Review settlement means we have to make more effective use of the combined resources of the department and partners,” says a BIS spokesman. “In addition, moves to consolidate accounts, a single administrative cost budget and specific and detailed financial and operational controls have brought partner organisations closer to BIS and each other so we can improve efficiency and effectiveness and develop areas of strength more widely.” In other words, the department has strengthened its control of its remaining quangos and delivery bodies in order to improve efficiency.
Another area where departments appear to be experiencing challenges is in collaboration and building common purpose across Whitehall. In total, six departments – DWP; DH; the Home Office; Defra; MoJ and HMRC – gave themselves an amber-red grade for this theme, suggesting that the siloed way in which Whitehall departments are often accused of working is still prevalent.
The Department of Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Justice were particularly open in the critiques of their performance in this area. “Our key partners sometimes feel they should be more closely involved in decisions,” DWP said, acknowledging that the department could also make better use of the skills and knowledge of, for example, the providers of its Work Programme to inform its own work. MoJ, meanwhile, said it could do more to “look outwards and work collaboratively with others”, better aligning its work with that of other departments.
Five departments gave themselves an amber-green grade in this category, but one – DCMS – gave itself the highest green rank, arguing that it has worked well with other departments on a number of policy priorities such as the Olympics and with its arm’s length bodies.
A DCMS spokeswoman says the size and scale of the department, the cross-cutting nature of many of its policy areas, and its complex network of arm’s length bodies and other delivery partners mean the department has to work collaboratively to achieve its objectives.
“Many of our recent achievements have involved close working with other partners including, as host government department, working with a range of other departments to deliver the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” she says. “Our ways of working in DCMS – where we move resources around flexibly to the areas of greatest priority – ensures we can focus our attention on areas where our policies impact on cross-cutting government priorities and react quickly to issues which impact directly on our priorities.”
One area that received a mixed review was the ability of departments to ignite passion, pace and drive in staff. Three departments gave themselves green in this category – more than for any other theme – but five gave themselves amber-red, indicating that staff morale is currently a challenge for some departments.
The Home Office, for example, identified this as a particular difficulty, given the pressure on staff from cuts and organisational reforms. “In the context of restructuring and changes to pay and pensions, igniting passion, pace and drive is a challenge,” its action plan says. But it notes that recent events, such as the staff’s proactive reaction to last summer’s public disturbances across the UK, shows that Home Office staff can work with pace and drive when required, and provides an example of good practice that the department now needs to build on.
All the action plans set out similar ideas about how departments feel they should now address their individual weaknesses. With these pledges accompanied by timetables for action, it is clear the plans are intended to be more than just an exercise in public hand-wringing that leads to no discernable changes. But given the challenging environment in which departments are currently operating, translating their promises into action will be no easy task.
Where departments are doing well
• ‘Managing performance and value for money’: all 12 departments rated themselves amber-green in this area;
• ‘Plan, resource and prioritise’: the Department of Health and the Home Office both rated themselves green in business and delivery planning and in controlling resources; the other 10 came in amber-green;
• ‘Strategy and focus on outcomes’: the Ministry of Justice and Treasury both rated themselves green, DCMS amber-red, and all the rest amber-green;
• ‘Innovate and improve delivery’: eight amber-green, four amber-red.