Not having any red ratings anywhere in the last two phases also suggests that external reviewers didn’t find it easy to be deeply critical either.

The Departmental Improvement Model points to the right areas to provide a powerful tool for departments with brilliant leadership and ambitions matching the boldness of the reform plan. In well-intentioned but merely adequate departments it is likely to be as effective as existing internal challenge (and such peer review as the department chooses to invite).

What if this proves insufficient to deliver “profound change”? The Reform Plan rightly talks of stronger, sharper accountability. Respect for the inquiry of the House of Lords Constitutional Committee appears to have inhibited action beyond the requirement for “explicit” sign off of documents for which one might have thought an Accounting Officer would in any case feel some responsibility.

Who is managing the risks and with what resources?

DECC had the lowest score of any department in the most recent (phase 3) review. It may be completely unrelated, but my understanding is that DECC was also the only department to invite an external assessment (rather than self-assessing) in this round.