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Special advice: how to make a prime ministerial unit work

How to be a Tsar.

Our recent event, the Special Ones, saw three people sharing experiences of working in prime ministerial units.

The phone rings. It’s the prime minister. You’re being asked to lead a unit to take on the burning issue which Whitehall business-as-usual can’t or won’t solve. What should you do? Our advice is to pause, breathe deeply, and read the Institute for Government’s guide to leading a central government unit. The Special Ones: How to make central government units work distils the wisdom we heard in the course of interviewing many former heads and members of so-called special units – and the officials and politicians who set them up, and closed them down – for the Institute’s major report on the centre of government. We identified seven tips any potential unit head should take on board. Tip 1: Have effective support from Number 10 Clear prime ministerial patronage helps to open doors and signals the political priority of an issue – and Whitehall is quick to spot when the shine wears off. The Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) – which enjoyed real success under Tony Blair’s patronage in the early 2000s – lost its previous clout when it moved to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister under John Prescott. Also, the Treasury is at least as important when money is needed. There is a ‘low tolerance for moaning’ though, so use political patronage sparingly. Tip 2: Be clear upfront about your conditions for accepting the appointment Resist flattery. Many such roles can be ‘powerless, horrific jobs’ we were told. Louise Casey recalled being asked to visit one newly appointed ‘tsar’ who had been given a basement office with no staff, no carpet, and no printer. Being a unit head brings huge personal accountability, and so to succeed there are some things you need to agree as conditions of your appointment – not least where you’re located (only the centre if you need to be close to the PM – otherwise departments might be better), and your budget if you need one. Tip 3: Manage your own recruitment Most units benefit from mixed teams of outsiders who bring new ideas and approaches – especially if, like the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit (PMSU) or Behavioural Insight Team (BIT), the point is to challenge normal Whitehall practice, and insiders who understand and can work the system. Tip 4: Build credibility and establish your expertise You need to bring expertise to bear that isn’t available through normal government structures – and to demonstrate its value. Former SEU head Moira Wallace saw ‘data and evidence as vital’ to it being taken seriously as ‘senior officials understood the benefit of extra analysis’. BIT was created with a proof of concept basis – they were required to generate 10 times their cost in savings, and to transform two policy areas. At our recent event, David Halpern said that establishing early wins with demonstrable benefits was important for retaining political support and resources. Tip 5: Plan well – have a clear timetable and plan implementation into your work Several units lost momentum over time. One of the SEU’s most ambitious projects was a long-term ‘neighbourhood renewal’ strategy, which was spun out to the new Neighbourhood Renewal Unit and was monitored by the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit (PMDU). But what started as a 20-year strategy waned as key officials and ministers moved on. Jon Bright – a former SEU deputy director – recalled that ‘government lost sight of the vision that had sustained its early development’. The best route to implementation success may lie in getting the issue you are set up to solve into the mainstream of policy. Louise Casey said she knew the government’s new approach to anti-social behaviour was mainstreamed when she heard ‘ASBOs’ referred to on EastEnders. Tip 6: Ensure appropriate governance – but don’t get bogged down in it Heavy-duty governance can slow a unit down – but used well can help get support from departments, ensure alignment with priorities and secure commitment to take forward recommendations. But personal accountability can be a stronger spur to action than over-formalised governance. PMDU worked when ministers and permanent secretaries felt accountable to the prime minister in a stock-take. Tip 7: Plan your legacy Units can incubate and catalyse change, and some become permanent fixtures (and we think the Implementation Unit should). But most will be time-limited and you should plan from the start how to ensure the unit’s legacy lives on. This means documenting and archiving your material (few SEU reports are publicly available today), funding evaluation to demonstrate value (because no one else will), build external networks, encourage copycatting (PMSU spawned a trend of departmental strategy units created by PMSU alumnus), or spin out of government as the Behavioural Insights Team has done. Perhaps the most important lesson of all for special units is that they are not, after all, that special. They are just one of the tools a prime minister can use to solve a problem – and they may not necessarily be the right one. So if you do get that call from the prime minister, think carefully about the lure of being a ‘special one’. And if you do say yes, then following the tips from your predecessors in The Special Ones will help you make the best start possible.
Position
Prime minister
Publisher
Institute for Government

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