Despite the ubiquity of top down control by government through performance measurement and management regimes - they rarely work: doomed by their profoundly flawed view of what motivates public servants. My blog shows why they persist and why they fail. I sketch out a better approach.
Really happy to have played a very minor role in supporting @jonathanslater.bsky.social in his characteristically optimistic and determined drive to work out how we can stop failing the poorest young people at school.
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...
I strongly recommend that fellow reform geeks take a look at this excellent report from Amy Gandon, now working with Demos. She gets under the bonnet of how civil servants really feel about their civil service to explore what it is about Whitehall that scuppers so many reform efforts.
Despite the ubiquity of top down control by government through performance measurement and management regimes - they rarely work: doomed by their profoundly flawed view of what motivates public servants. My blog shows why they persist and why they fail. I sketch out a better approach.
Despite the longevity of top down control by government through performance management regimes - they rarely work. My new blog unpicks their flawed foundations. I sketch out a new model. But there are big barriers to making the change we need.
www.civilservicereformuk.com/single-post/...
A very sound and important post from @jillongovt.bsky.social and @tompope.bsky.social. This is shockingly overdue and fits perfectly with Rayner’s devolution agenda. How does the treasuries misconceived control freakery endure when there are so many good people working there?
My new blog is one for serious reform geeks - my conceptual model for an episode of civil service reform. The blog outlines the research that led to it. The model will provide the lens for a series of reform case studies.
www.civilservicereformuk.com/single-post/...
My new blog is one for serious reform geeks - my conceptual model for an episode of civil service reform. The blog outlines the research that led to it. The model will provide the lens for a series of reform case studies.
www.civilservicereformuk.com/single-post/...
This is a brilliant piece - if only someone in no10 and the treasury would read and act on it.
Don’t forget the continuing catastrophe that is thatchers right to buy. Or are you too young!
Excited Simon?! It’s just so bizarre that successive governments just accept this. HMT and perm secs seem institutionally brainwashed into a fear of devolving and delegating more - when literally the whole of Europe manages it. And you are correct about council tax - it is nothing of the kind.
As the numbers are crunched and Rachel Reeves's spending review winners and losers emerge, whatever happened to Labour's vision of "mission-led" government...?
Here's @drhannahwhite.bsky.social's on the day verdict for the @theguardian.com ...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Are we witnessing the slow death of the council tax? On the face of it #localgov doesn't do too badly from the spending review, but a lot of that new money is actually the government banking a universal 5% rise in council tax, 2% of which is a straightforward national precept for social care.
Our @instituteforgovernment.org.uk spending review analysis is out! Take a read here www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/spen...
Our key takeaways: 1/7
It’s good you are still in the game Paul. There are such great opportunities - we just need some bold leadership to unleash all the good people and ideas that are out there.
Not just treasury to be fair
I guess you don’t get to the top by flexing your strategic leadership muscles - unlike the many local authority Cex’s and leaders. Me and James page lamented this void in 2012.
Building on your arguments for in shaping up. Same story. Gus O’Donnell and Bob kerslake got it, but that’s it so far.
Thanks Simon - it’s just so frustrating! All the pieces to be better are waiting for some vision, courage and preparedness to push back at the treasury.
5 Missions were to be the North Star for Starmer. 12 wasted months later they are obscured by cloud. The spending review looks more like Osborne’s 2010 axe than a mission led investment in key milestones. A bold and reformist reset is needed.
www.civilservicereformuk.com/single-post/...
Interested in learning and development? Want to make government more effective? We are looking for a Learning and Development Officer to join our @ifgacademy.bsky.social team.
Applications will close on Sunday 11 May at 11:59pm - find out more www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/about-us/car...
Full article: Future Directions of Public Administration Research—Addressing Fundamental Issues and Questions www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Agreed - shared services are notoriously strong on big £ business cases - whilst failing to deliver. They ignore cost of the dysfunctional (but necessary) organisational response to poor services and botched implementation. This is exposed by great research by Thomas Elston from Blavatnik School.
The clarity and transparency of the argument in this excellent blog are the antithesis of the two great lies that surround successive spending review that I explore in my recent blog.
www.civilservicereformuk.com/single-post/...
Not one but TWO new senior research roles have opened up @carnegieuk.bsky.social
Are you a proven researcher who wants to work at the interface between data, research, public policy and practice?
Research and Insight: https://buff.ly/40wnmml
Data and Insight: https://buff.ly/40xXHK7
As govt doubles down on turbocharging w/ AI narrative, it feels relevant to reshare some work I commissioned at @jrf-uk.bsky.social asking experts 'To what extent can AI improve public policymaking?'
This response from @gavinfreeguard.bsky.social is a personal fave!
www.jrf.org.uk/ai-for-publi...
Research from Elston and MacCarthaigh provides serious food for thought for treasury ministers who would fall for the easy politics of centralised input controls like shared services. Spoiler alert: few cashable savings, generate hidden costs and disempower managers from improving efficiency.
