Policy Hub
On 18 January 2010, the Institute for Government published a report (Shaping up: a Whitehall for the future) which seeks to address some of the crucial governance dilemmas that hinder public sector reform and ultimately lead to unsatisfactory outcomes for citizens.
The report identifies three key challenges to building a better civil service and sets out potential solutions for discussion. First, government must increase strategic capacity at the centre. The report suggests that Whitehall’s central departments have little capacity to create and maintain a ‘whole of government’ strategy that sets out priorities for an entire parliamentary term, Second, governance within departments remains variable across the civil service. Many departmental boards have yet to develop a clear leadership and oversight role which, the report contends, has invited interference from the centre. Third, mechanisms for coordinating policy and delivery between departments are still dominated by siloed thinking, making it difficult to manage cross-cutting policy issues.
The report’s recommendations broadly outline an approach to reforming the centre of government that has the potential to improve implementation, reduce bureaucratic duplication and provide clear strategic objectives across the public sector.