Getting better at getting things done

As Jeremy Heywood reminded us in his recent talk at the Institute for Government on the role of the Cabinet Secretary, and as highlighted in the new leadership statement, the core responsibility of the UK Civil Service is to deliver the Government’s programme and ministerial priorities. In this Parliament, that means implementing the 517 priorities set out in the Government’s manifesto – including ensuring patients have access to quality NHS care seven days a week; creating three million apprenticeships; opening 500 new free schools; and building 200,000 affordable starter homes. Tracking the implementation of these commitments, and helping unblock barriers to progress along the way, is the job of the Prime Minister’s Implementation Unit (IU). Set up in 2012 to provide a relentless focus on delivery of the Coalition’s Programme for Government, the IU’s job is to combine rigorous data analysis with intelligence from the frontline. It aims to highlight implementation challenges and opportunities, and help suggest actions to solve problems. Building on global experience – such as Governor O’Malley’s StateStat model in Maryland (as explored for the Institute by Jen Gold), the IU is a band of around 40 people in the Cabinet Office, drawn from across the Civil Service, local service delivery and the private sector. In this Parliament, the Government has acted to further strengthen the implementation architecture, including eleven new cross-cutting implementation taskforces to drive progress and unblock barriers on the highest-priority policy areas; and the development of a single plan for each department setting out strategic objectives, milestones and measures for tracking delivery. The Civil Service has also launched a virtual implementation ‘profession’, led by James Quinault, Director of the IU. This is designed to build implementation capability across the Civil Service by sharing IU methodologies; working on joint projects; designing and training on key tools; and spreading good practice and lessons learned on implementation. In particular, the IU has published Implementation Insights, a framework for effective implementation in Whitehall. The final part of this drive is the creation of a number of Departmental Implementation Units (DIUs). So far these have been established at DH, DCLG, DfE, BIS, DEFRA. These DIUs are applying the Cabinet Office model to implementation challenges in their own sectors, deploying proven methodologies and best practice but adapting it to the priorities of their own secretaries of state and to diverse sectors and challenges. The Cabinet Office IU is providing sponsorship and support for these units, for example opening up its flagship Implementation Basecamp training programme for new recruits. The Institute for Government is an active partner – last week, facilitating a roundtable discussion and training session for the heads of the new units. It is still early days for most of this new architecture: while many of the new taskforces have met several times and are cranking up progress on driving implementation, the Single departmental Plans won’t be published until after this month’s Spending Review; and the departmental IUs are very new and still defining their roles. However, the Civil Service has a clear goal – supporting the implementation of the Government’s 517 priority commitments by 2020 – and it is up to the IU and the emerging wider ‘profession’ to keep that relentless focus on tracking and supporting their achievement, and ensuring that implementation results in the intended impact for people, businesses and communities across the UK. Kathy Hall is Head of the Department of Health's Implementation Unit, on secondment from the Cabinet Office Implementation Unit, and is Deputy Head of the virtual implementation ‘profession’. The Institute of Government research report Doing Them Justice features four policy implementation case studies.

Abbreviations for government departments can be found here.