The strange case of the missing plans

The most important part of the Spending Review is not the spreadsheet of numbers, the rabbits from the hat, or the headlines. It is the planning that sets out how to translate the spending numbers into reality.

There have been signs that the Government is taking the planning side more seriously than in previous spending reviews. The results were to be captured in Single Departmental Plans (SDPs), to be published in January. According to Oliver Letwin, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, the SDPs “will constitute a single, clear roadmap for departments, bringing together plans for implementing strategic, operational, corporate and efficiency objectives.”

The Chief Executive of the Civil Service, John Manzoni, sees them as the means by which government must set out its priorities. In John’s words, government’s constrained resources mean there is no room for a list of “nice to haves”. This is all very encouraging, especially as the Treasury appear to be taking these plans seriously (not always the case for a Cabinet Office initiative). But as we enter February, none of these plans have appeared: it looks like they have been delayed until March at the earliest.

In the wider scheme of things, this would be a short delay for a government publication. And of course it is sensible to take the time to get the SDPs right. However, it is quite possible that rather than being improved, the SDPs are currently going into a “Christmas tree” process, where ministers from across government add their own “baubles” to the plans, creating an unfocused and unusable product. In other words, turning them into precisely the thing the Government’s own chief executive has warned against.

The previous Coalition Government’s record on planning was not great – the business plans they introduced were simply never focused enough. Ministers need to provide the Civil Service (and themselves) with a clear sense of priorities: the SDPs are an essential part of doing this.

It would be unfortunate if, when finally published, the Government’s flagship plans reveal a confused political muddle instead of a serious effort to implement the Prime Minister’s promises of greater efficiency, reform and devolution.