Talk: Abilities, Effectiveness, and Technology in Public Administration

INTRODUCTION

[Political content removed]

I take pride in the achievements of the [Political content removed] Government, in collaboration with the Civil Service, to modernise public service, and I am even more proud that this journey of continuous improvement shows no signs of abating. We are consistently achieving results.

Our civil service is modern and forward-thinking, far removed from the portrayals in Yes Minister.

One can appreciate that while still cherishing memories of the series. I was saddened to learn of John Nettleton’s passing last week; he played the delightfully cunning Cabinet Secretary, Sir Arnold, in Yes Minister.

Reflecting on how much has changed over the past 12 years, I smile at Sir Arnold’s quip when the Minister wished to present a speech on Reform.

He remarked, “Once you clarify in advance what a project aims to achieve and who is accountable, the entire system will disintegrate. We’d be submerged in the chaotic realm of professional management… already, we must shuffle them every 2-3 years to avoid this nonsense—too much transparency would mean moving them weekly.”

I will return to Sir Arnold later.

We have made remarkable progress, but as the Fulton Report indicated in 1968…

“We have found no instance where reform has proceeded too swiftly.”

The fierce winds of competition drive the private sector to either modernise or perish; in Health and Education, an increasingly informed public demands enhancements. Our Armed Forces, through active combat, joint exercises, and meticulous study of adversaries, recognize the immense pressure to adapt to ever-changing threats.

Our half a million colleagues within the Civil Service are essential to our nation and must share this determination to effect change.

They understand that Modernisation is not an end in itself. It’s about delivering better, more efficiently, and at lower costs to every community and family across the nation.

To address the UK’s productivity challenge, the public sector must step up.

THE BACKGROUND

We have two significant advantages to draw upon as we continue to pursue reform.

The first, and most crucial, is continuity. [Political content removed]

In 2015, I was fortunate to be elected to succeed Francis Maude as MP for Horsham. Last year, I followed in his footsteps as Minister for the Cabinet Office.

I am thrilled that my predecessors commissioned Francis Maude to report on Civil Service governance and accountability. I look forward to receiving it in due course.

However, today is not the time to delve into those wider topics, but rather to concentrate on the modernisation agenda that is being advanced across Government daily.

Francis’s pioneering work between 2010 and 2015 created essential levers for continuous improvement.

This laid the groundwork for the significant progress realized under Michael Gove as CDL in 2021.

The Declaration of Government Reform, co-signed by Permanent Secretaries and the Cabinet, continues to serve as a steadfast framework for reform on which we are persistently working.

I want to outline how the changes initiated since 2010, backed by a relentless commitment to delivery and innovation, are yielding positive outcomes.

I mentioned two key advantages. The first is a consistent [Political content removed] push for modernisation. The second is the team I work with throughout the civil service.

Unlike some of my predecessors, I have firsthand experience working as a civil servant. Between 2008-2009, I was on secondment in the Treasury, navigating the immense pressures of the financial crash as the UK implemented world-leading, innovative solutions.

We have witnessed how the modern generation of civil servants rises to the occasion, whether through the swift rollout of furlough to protect nearly nine million jobs at its peak or the delivery of the world’s inaugural COVID vaccination program.

While our Civil Service is filled with talented individuals, I recognize that many, as is common in any organization, feel constrained by bureaucracy.

Alongside the Cabinet Secretary, I conveyed to civil service colleagues at Civil Service Live in Cardiff last week that we need everyone to call out waste and inefficiency and to tackle the shared frustrations.

They can achieve this through greater specialization, broader access to external perspectives and fresh ideas, longer tenures in post, clear objectives, and thorough evaluations while embracing the digital future which will revolutionize our work.

That is the focus of my discussion today.

EFFICIENCY AS THE FOUNDATION OF A MODERN CIVIL SERVICE

In 2010, [Political content removed], the central government functions, including commercial, IT and digital, property, major projects, finance, and HR, were nearly non-existent.

The disciplines integral to the commercial sector were at best fragmented; at worst, they were regarded as unnecessary or contrary to cultural norms.

Since then, the integration of these functions, led by highly motivated, effective individuals with external experience, has replaced sporadic upheavals in the system with sustained rigor.

I am pleased to report that during the financial year 2021/22, central government functions achieved a total of £4.4 billion in savings. These are divided into audited cashable (£3.4 billion) and non-cashable (£1 billion). The Cabinet Office has made this data available on GOV.UK.

This is not a one-time occurrence. The preceding year, central government Function Teams also achieved £3.4 billion in audited savings. This results in approximately £8 billion in cashable and non-cashable savings over the past two years. We accomplished this through innovative thinking and a commitment to success.

The sources of these savings vary annually; for instance, over £1 billion in savings this year was achieved by addressing fraudulently claimed Universal Credit (UC). This area is expected to expand further following our establishment of the Public Sector Fraud Authority.

I am excited to announce that to further this work, the Treasury is releasing a Government Efficiency Framework today, ensuring consistent reporting of efficiencies across all Government sectors and instituting reporting processes to track progress and encourage continuous improvement.

This is another step in the unwavering, yet critical journey toward enhanced productivity within the civil service.

Our modernisation efforts are not confined to the services provided by central government.

The UK’s public bodies, which play essential roles in delivery, but whose independence may risk detachment from a continuous improvement culture, are also subject to reviews and enhancements.

So far, 71 out of the initial 125 public body reviews have commenced, covering over 90% of ALB expenditure.

In the next 18 months, most of the largest ALBs will undergo reviews, benefitting from experienced teams and active support from ALB boards. Completed reviews have suggested actions to enhance governance, capacity, and resource utilization to deliver maximum value for taxpayers.

REFORMING PROCUREMENT

As a Government, we provide services while spending approximately £300 billion annually on procurement, also enhancing our national infrastructure.

After significant effort, we are on the brink of the Procurement Bill passing through both houses. In a rare scenario of the Government adopting the straightforward motto of “Keep it Simple Stupid,” it condenses the 350 various procurement regulations based on EU Procurement into a single, straightforward rulebook.

This will lay the groundwork for an increasingly outcome-focused approach to procurement, allowing us to procure goods and services without dictating how to construct a bridge, and instead engaging with suppliers on the best methods to cross the water. You might be surprised by the insights gained.

STRONGER PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR BETTER SERVICES

We know better infrastructure leads to better productivity.

Over the last two years, the government’s major projects portfolio has expanded to include nearly 250 programs, with a total life cost of approximately £800 billion.

Incorporating more projects into the central portfolio has improved oversight and investment, enabling increased transparency and scrutiny. Currently, 89% of these projects have a green or amber delivery confidence, an increase from 64% in 2020.

This focused approach on efficiency, improved procurement, and enhanced project management lays the foundation for boosting productivity and elevating our public services.

When Francis established the functions, it represented a revolutionary transition—the Victorian departmental silo model complemented by a network of cross-departmental experts, a concept familiar to many in the commercial sector. Twelve years later, these functions continue to thrive, deliver, and the GEF will simplify their work and enhance transparency of results.

BUILDING A MODERN CIVIL SERVICE: PLACES, PEOPLE, PROCESS AND PROGRAMME ASSESSMENT

Ensuring that functions deliver is only one facet of the Declaration to which we, as ministers and civil servants, are committed.

To continue the reform process, we must be receptive to insights and experiences from outside the public sector, recognizing the extraordinary opportunities it offers and wanting to contribute their talents to our workforce.

We must ensure they are supported within a modern work environment, maximizing the numerous opportunities presented by data and AI.

Additionally, we need to help them focus their time and energy on effective strategies.

Let’s start with People.

For too long, policy creation and Civil Service leadership have been overly London-centric. That’s why we committed to relocating 22,000 Civil Service roles out of London by 2030.

This year, we reached a significant milestone, relocating over 12,000 roles outside of London and the South East…

This represents more than half of our overall commitment within just three years and surpasses 75% of our aim to relocate 15,000 roles by 2025.

We are also making progress toward the target of 50% of UK-based SCS roles being outside London, with currently 30% based beyond the capital.

We’ve established multiple departmental second headquarters, including a second headquarters for the Cabinet Office in Glasgow. The Cabinet Office is not unique in looking to Scotland—almost 20% of roles moved from London have been transferred to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, with additional government hubs in Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast.

We have also initiated a major policy campus in Sheffield, becoming the largest center for policy-making outside London.

The implications of this for leveling up, value for money, and reinforcing our Union are important, evident, and rightfully commended.

However, I want to focus on the practical benefits—opportunities for recruiting exceptional civil servants whom I have met across Scotland, Wales, the North, and South West.

I believe we will identify further potential to enhance Places for Growth, particularly by concentrating on our Arms Length bodies.

Yet we need to do more than PfG to widen our talent pool.

Primarily, we must become an employer that welcomes new talent at every stage of an individual’s career.

Currently, merely 1 in 5 of new entrants to the Senior Civil Service come from external sources. I want to ensure that every potential applicant, eager to contribute their expertise to the public good, feels empowered to apply. We should harness that talent where it clearly adds value.

That’s why last year we established a more robust requirement for all Senior Civil Service roles to be advertised externally, a suggestion made by Policy Exchange.

It is now essential to obtain explicit Ministerial approval for holding an internal recruitment competition for a senior civil servant role.

While this reform is already making a difference, we can and should enhance our efforts.

Simply advertising a position externally is not sufficient…

Presently, the ‘street to seat’ hiring process can extend to 80 days or more, not including vetting…

In a competitive talent market, persuading individuals with much to offer to choose public service over other opportunities demands we seriously evaluate our recruitment practices.

We must ensure that every aspect of civil service recruitment—from advertising to recognizing external expertise to selection and onboarding—supports excellent candidates.

To that end, we are encouraging departments and professions to trial alternative recruitment methods.

Experiments will be conducted with streamlined job postings that eliminate bureaucratic jargon…

And they will expedite recruitment, focusing on removing the red tape that deters or delays exceptional candidates…

In support of faster onboarding, we are revamping our vetting system. UK Security Vetting is hiring additional staff and enhancing processes and systems to elevate KPIs to the levels we require. We are committed to a thorough overhaul of policies, procedures, and systems.

EMBRACING DIGITAL AND AI

It’s fantastic to grow our talent pool, but our civil servants need the right tools to deliver results. A revolution is taking place in digital and AI, and our civil servants must be integral to it: taxpayers will rightly expect a level of access to services and support that will become commonplace in the private sector.

We must be proactive in maximizing the digital talent already present within the Civil Service while emphasizing its importance.

This September, we’ll launch our government-wide initiative ‘One Big Thing’: focused on data skills development. This program will involve every civil servant—providing half a million training days on data this autumn. This reflects our commitment to building knowledge and delivering on objectives.

Over the next two years, we will introduce two new digital platforms to enhance our understanding, development, and utilization of workforce skills, facilitating smoother transitions between departments.

The Government Skills Campus will offer a unified platform across government, providing better access to essential learning for civil servants. It will leverage skills data to intelligently guide the right content to learners and supply the necessary skills data for workforce planning.

Another new platform will enable civil servants to move between departments efficiently and seamlessly. Not only will this result in cost savings of approximately £100 million over the next five years, but it will also simplify the placement of individuals with the necessary skills and experience into the right government roles. This will provide colleagues with more rewarding responsibilities, while also yielding the benefits of specialized experience.

These digital and data innovations are pivotal tools for the 21st Century, but their effectiveness hinges on leadership comprehension. I am thrilled that we are on track to exceed our target of having 50% of Fast Stream hires in 2023 with a STEM subject background. However, we cannot afford to wait decades for their progress….

Through the Digital Excellence Program, we will provide our government leaders with essential skills, starting with 3,000 senior leaders this year.

We can offer digital experts remarkable opportunities to apply their skills in delivering solutions that matter to citizens daily. I understand the competitiveness of this talent pool, but what better way to invest in your workforce than through engaging them with some of the most riveting challenges?

To enhance our secondment program, we will introduce a specific Digital Secondments pilot alongside our digital team within the Central Digital and Data Office.

I know there are individuals from top tech firms who believe in public service…

Who are eager to tackle the most significant societal challenges today…

So we will establish a pathway for them to join the civil service through secondments to drive tangible change…

DRIVING IMPROVEMENTS IN DIGITAL PROCESS

Attracting and retaining top digital talent is essential to harnessing the potential of digital, data, and technology for efficient public service delivery.

Our ambitious Roadmap for Digital and Data commits to achieving 21 goals by 2025.

Among these commitments, we aim to elevate 50 of the government’s key services to a “Great” standard, while introducing One Login—a crucial new system allowing citizens to access all central Government services effortlessly through a single account.

We need to ensure that GOV.UK, which sees over 1 million visits daily and over 29 billion page views since 2012, provides a service standard befitting public expectations.

Consequently, we’ve set up a team to spearhead digital service transformation across government. This team identifies opportunities, obstacles, and support needed to enhance services.

This is also why 32 organisations within government have adopted the same compensation framework, aimed at driving recruitment and retention of digital professionals, ultimately saving taxpayer money by reducing reliance on contractors and managed services.

In recent months, we’ve witnessed significant advancements in Artificial Intelligence technology, offering, if implemented correctly, clear opportunities for government. Our ambition is to use AI effectively and responsibly, where it matters most—to enhance public services and increase productivity.

Our central team of digital and technology experts is formulating a pragmatic framework for applying this technology across the civil service, addressing privacy, ethical, and security concerns while adopting insights and best practices from industry.

I am thrilled to announce that following last year’s pilot, the incubator for Automation and Innovation, known as i.AI, will become a permanent civil service team focused on some of our most complex challenges.

Moreover, the Number 10 Innovation Fellowships program will bring AI experts from industry and academia to address public service delivery challenges using AI and automation.

We are also in the process of creating a Data Marketplace to eliminate internal data-sharing barriers. Additionally, we recognize the potential of government data to foster value and innovation in the economy. Thus, in line with the Vallance review’s recommendations, we aim to extend this marketplace to third parties beyond government by 2025, including businesses and researchers.

We will launch and scale a cross-government digital apprenticeship program to support the recruitment and development of 500 new DDaT professionals in this financial year.

STRONGER ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC PROGRAMMES

It’s a well-known saying that the only mistake you can make is not learning from it…

That’s why, following the Declaration on Government Reform, we established the Evaluation Task Force to enhance Government program evaluations: to better guide decisions on whether programs should continue, expand, modify, or cease.

I learned, to my dismay as Minister for Defence procurement, that while I desperately sought funding for brilliant, innovative ideas, without rigorous Ministerial scrutiny, others could quietly proceed long after their lack of viability became clear.

In the realm of innovation, a failure occurs when a project persists in operation beyond all hope—fail fast, reinvest.

The same principle applies to policy.

We need evaluation integral from the outset in everything we do.

Yes, this could expose situations where policy, believe it or not, doesn’t deliver. This can occur. When it does, let’s take action rather than conceal it. A productive public sector doesn’t shy away from acknowledging that not everything works. In the commercial field, such recognition is accepted and embraced. We must shed our reservations.

Yet, we can and should learn from our victories.

The DLUHC supporting families evaluation demonstrated not only the policy’s effectiveness in reducing adult and juvenile custodial sentences but was robust enough to reveal that every pound we invested in the program yielded £2.28 in economic benefits and £1.52 in financial benefits.

The Task Force has provided guidance on 211 evaluations across government, encompassing £115 billion in expenditures.

On the premise that only fools learn from their own mistakes, and the wise learn from others’…

I am excited to declare that the Evaluation Task Force will launch the Evaluation Registry, which will serve, for the first time, as a centralized online resource for evaluations across government.

The Evaluation Registry has been meticulously designed to excel in fostering evidence-based policy-making. When it launches, it will stand as one of the largest repositories of social policy evaluations in the world, starting with over 2,000 evaluations.

This resource will be available to all government departments this year and, moving forward, supported by funding exceeding £50 million dedicated to generating new evidence in critical policy-making areas.

CONCLUSION: BRILLIANT PUBLIC SERVICE

Let’s reconnect with our fictional Sir Arnold.

If he were to return to our screens today, I hope he would be somewhat unsettled by the notion that a new recruit might begin, progress, and conclude their career as a Permanent Secretary without ever working within 10 miles of Peter Jones.

Furthermore, talent is not only being directly integrated into the upper tiers of the SCS but is being actively pursued and welcomed.

We are seizing the opportunities presented by digital and AI, and the transformative potential this has for enhancing efficiency and improving the services we deliver.