Our interview with Ministry of Justice permanent secretary Ursula Brennan raises concerns over the MoJ’s strategic management and planning. With the probation service outsourcing project on the horizon, the department’s commercial and supplier management capabilities will be tested as never before. Other departments have faced similar problems recently. Yet while our interview with transport chief Philip Rutnam, for example, revealed how the lessons of West Coast Mainline are being learned, it is not obvious from our chat with the MoJ boss that the department has fully taken on board the learning from its courts interpreters project. The government has formally accepted many of the criticisms levelled at this MoJ scheme. Now the department must show that it knows how to address them.
Matt Ross, Editor. matt.ross@dods.co.uk