Capability Reviews: Progress and Next Steps - The Civil Service

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The review team gave the Department five areas for action to focus on. These were:• ‘Strengthen the board’: developing a more effective leadership team for theDepartment.• ‘Improve leadership and empowerment of the 250 most senior staff’: developmentof the SCS within the Department.• ‘Tackle the variety, appropriateness and complexity of business models and theirimpact on the delivery chain to improve operational grip and performance’:creating a more effective governance structure.• ‘Strengthen corporate services and how they support the business’: improvingcorporate services in support of a strong Home Office headquarters.• ‘Prioritise and allocate resources to what is important’: ensuring the Home Officefocuses its attention and resources on its core priorities.Area for action 1: Strengthen the boardThe Home Office board has been strengthened over the past year and is providingmore effective leadership for the Department. There have been new executive andnon-executive appointments, including a new HR director general and directorgeneral of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism. The board is much morefocused on key issues such as strategy, leadership, resources, prioritisation, talentdevelopment and reputation. The sub-board structures have been simplified throughthe new Home Office Framework, which provides more effective governance for theDepartment. Within the Department, the board is generally seen as a capable andeffective team, with strong individuals who work well together.Following the machinery of government changes, the board has worked with thenew ministerial team to agree a new strategy and set of objectives for theDepartment. The focus of the board is now on embedding these throughout theDepartment and ensuring work is directed towards achieving the new objectives.Area for action 2: Improve leadership and empowerment of the 250most senior staffThe Home Office have made a significant number of staff changes, strengtheningtheir broader leadership team – 28 out of the 50 directors in the Department arenew, and 17 have left. A comprehensive leadership development programme hasalso been put in place for all the Senior Civil Servants in the Department, includingskills assessments and tailored coaching and leadership development.This is a positive start. However, the Department recognises that there is more to do.Developing the wider leadership team, particularly at deputy director level, is vital ifthe Department is to create a team of high-quality, committed leaders with a clearand shared direction. These leaders must involve their staff and stakeholders indelivery, manage performance effectively and connect up their areas with the14 TRANCHE 1 DEPARTMENTS: A YEAR ON
Department’s wider agenda. Developing leaders who are able to do this is a priorityfor the Home Office’s Reform Programme over the next year.Area for action 3: Tackle the variety, appropriateness and complexity ofbusiness models and their impact on the delivery chain to improveoperational grip and performanceThe Home Office has implemented a new structure and operating model a yearahead of schedule. There is now a smaller, more focused headquarters, with moreresponsibility and resources devolved to the front-line delivery agencies andpartners. The Permanent Secretary holds the Department’s delivery groups andagencies to account through a series of monthly operating reviews that focus hardon performance. A Home Office Delivery Unit has also been established and isstarting to support the Department in addressing key delivery issues.The review team found that the greater responsibility devolved to the agencies, inparticular, has had an energising effect. However, the nature of the relationshipbetween the agencies and the Department’s headquarters is still evolving.Area for action 4: Strengthen corporate services and how they supportthe businessThe Home Office’s corporate services have improved in a number of areas, withprofessional expertise being brought in to strengthen teams across corporateservices. The Department has greatly improved its financial management anddelivered unqualified accounts for 2006/07. A new department-wide Information andCommunication Technology Strategy has been developed and new resourceallocation, business planning and risk management processes are in place. Therehas also been a strong focus on improving programme and project management(PPM) capability, with over 700 staff having completed PPM training. The HomeOffice has also improved its HR operations, including delivering this year’s payaward effectively.The Home Office recognises that some of the basic systems in the Department arestill fragile. A new chief information officer is being appointed with responsibility forimproving the IT capability of the Department and, in particular, ensuring that the ITand data can be combined in the most useful way across the Department.Area for action 5: Prioritise and allocate resources to what is importantThe Home Office board has given significant focus to effectively managing resourcesand priorities. Prior to machinery of government changes the Department workedwith the Home Secretary to take some tough prioritisation decisions in order toprovide additional funding to expand prisons capacity. The Department has alsoworked closely with the new Home Secretary to agree how resources should beprioritised under the new CSR undertaken in 2007.CAPABILITY REVIEWS: PROGRESS AND NEXT STEPS15
Page 1 and 2: Capability Reviews:Progress and Nex
Page 3 and 4: This has been an excellent example
Page 5 and 6: 1. Tranche 1 departments: a year on
Page 7 and 8: Department for Children, Schools an
Page 9 and 10: This will act as an innovative and
Page 11 and 12: • ‘Managing for improvement’:
Page 13: Home OfficeStarting from a low base
Page 17 and 18: Ministry of JusticeThe MoJ was crea
Page 19 and 20: A number of significant programmes
Page 21 and 22: 2. Common capability gaps: progress
Page 23 and 24: later tranches have not been able t
Page 25 and 26: or hinder it:‘lack of leadership
Page 27 and 28: All of these aspects came together
Page 29 and 30: Case study: Collective leadership i
Page 31 and 32: • Engaging the wider SCS. This is
Page 33 and 34: Participants’ comments included:
Page 35 and 36: Consequently, the areas of focus su
Page 37 and 38: Building up the supply and demand s
Page 39 and 40: Case study: Development work with d
Page 41 and 42: Case study: A skills strategy for g
Page 43 and 44: The recent CSR has emphasised the i
Page 45 and 46: At six months after the review:•
Page 47 and 48: Our challenge now is to ensure that
Page 49 and 50: • a more comprehensive approach t
Page 51 and 52: The Tranche 3 report identified the
Page 53 and 54: Case study: The Home Office Strateg
Page 55 and 56: The group is expanding to include l
Page 57 and 58: • The Sunningdale Institute facil
Page 59 and 60: Exhibit 3: Change trajectoriesCapab
Page 61 and 62: original reviews. The re-review wil
Page 63 and 64: Departments increasingly have to wo
Page 65 and 66:
LeadershipKey questions that test c
Page 67 and 68:
DeliveryKey questions that test cur
Page 69:
Capability Reviews TeamCabinet Offi
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