Shaping up

Shaping up

Shaping Up was the Institute's flagship research project for 2009 and early 2010. Its objective was to look for lessons from overseas and past UK experience on how to improve the governance of Whitehall. 

In particular, the project examined:

  • The role of the centre of government (No. 10, Cabinet Office, and Treasury);
  • Mechanisms for co-ordinating the work of different departments;
  • Departmental government structures and the role of management boards.

Background

Whitehall has undergone significant reform over the past decade, but commentators including the Cabinet Secretary have argued that there is further to go in key areas that include policy co-ordination, strategic government, and effective corporate leadership.

This project assessed Whitehall's current strengths and weaknesses, examine how other countries tackle these administrative challenges and work with civil servants to identify the most promising options for improving future performance. 

Method

The first stage of the project consisted of a rigorous benchmarking exercise. Second, the team conducted detailed desk research and interviews on a set of international comparators which hold lessons for alternative models of how to organise the centre of government.

Third, the researchers brought home a set of options for reform, which was tested and refined through the involvement of senior figures from the British government in seminars and one-to-one meetings and interviews. Fourth, we published our key findings and recommendations in a report. 

State of the Service

Over the past five years, Whitehall has produced an unprecedented amount of information about its own corporate performance. But the data emerging from capability reviews, performance reports and staff surveys has rarely been brought together in an accessible format.

The report was an interim analysis to provoke discussion and provide the basis for a final report to be published later this year. The report aimed to do just that, using the latest publicly available data to provide readers with a clear guide to Whitehall's people, performance and prospects for improvement. We also drew on international comparisons to show Whitehall's performance in context.

The report was intended to help UK departments learn from each other and from the best international practice. It has been covered by The Times and the Financial Times. Given the limitations of the available data, our analysis should be regarded as exploratory rather than offering a set of firm conclusions. We welcome comments.

Shaping up: A Whitehall for the future

Based on interviews with over 60 top civil servants, the final report Shaping Up: A Whitehall for the Future makes recommendations to improve long-standing issues about governance at the centre and in departments. It draws on the full range of published data; international comparisons; unprecedented new analysis, such as our work on Departmental boards; and extensive interviews with Senior Civil Servants, Ministers and others who deal with government on a regular basis.

UK administration isn't bad compared with others, particularly in terms of its flexibility and honesty, and perhaps this makes us complacent. But it still has significant weaknesses, including a "responsibility gap" between political leadership and day-to-day management - a gap that has dogged British governments for decades. These weaknesses will be tested severely by the challenges we will face in the next couple of years.

Outcomes

We expect our work to have a significant policy impact. We will remain fully engaged with senior officials in the Treasury, Cabinet Office and No. 10 Policy Unit, and present our findings and share our recommendations as they are formed.

Click here for further reading and links to useful organisations.

Research team:
Simon Parker with support from Akash Paun, Jonathan McClory and Kate Blatchford.
simon.parker@instituteforgovernment.org.uk

Advisory Board:
The researchers are grateful for the support of an advisory board of senior officials and other Whitehall experts, all of whom participate in a purely personal capacity and bear no responsibility for any of the outputs or conclusions of the project. The members of the advisory board are:
• David Bennett, former head of the No. 10 Policy Unit and Strategy Unit
• Natalie Ceeney, Chief Executive of the National Archives
• Diane French, Manager, Performance Measurement Practice, National Audit Office
• Susie Gear, former Director of Change, Cabinet Office
• Jill Rutter, Director, Strategy and Sustainable Development, Defra
• William Solesbury, Director of William Solesbury & Associates, and Senior Visiting Research Fellow at King's College London