Capability Reviews: Progress and Next Steps - The Civil Service

The review team gave DCA four areas for action to focus on. These were:• ‘Develop the senior leadership team, and improve how they engage with staff atall levels’: improving the way the senior leadership team works together and withstaff throughout the Department.• ‘Further develop the capacity to manage change and reform on a large scale andat pace’: improving change management and governance to tackle a toughagenda of change.• ‘Ensure clear, collective understanding of the business model to enable agenciesand NDPBs to operate within a tight corporate framework’: articulating andcommunicating a clear business model throughout the Department, its agenciesand NDPBs.• ‘Develop delivery capability to deliver more with less’: focusing on performancemanagement and delivering challenging outcomes.These broad areas for action remain valid going forward, and the board hasreconfigured the detailed action points to reflect the work now needed in establishingthe new Ministry.Area for action 1: Develop the senior leadership team, and improve howthey engage with staff at all levelsDCA made progress in this area, focusing on improving board communications withstaff and raising the board’s profile across the organisation. This was achieved byintroducing regular staff forums, holding board meetings outside London and hostingevents with the senior leadership team from across the Department, its NDPBs andagencies. The new MoJ board has continued with its commitment to improvingvisibility and communications, and has taken early action to set up a structuredprogramme of staff engagement across the Department.In addition, the board has participated in a programme of regular developmentawaydays. Since the creation of the MoJ, this has included focused sessions todevelop the future business model and ways of working. The regular programme ofevents for the senior leadership team continues to engage with the SCS on theleadership challenges for the Department.Area for action 2: Further develop the capacity to manage change andreform on a large scale and at paceProgress in delivering change formed a key part of the CSR 2007 process, withchange funding now separately identified, planned and managed in the financialplanning process. The introduction of change-specific financial controls means thatthere is more rigorous scrutiny of costs and benefits delivery and improvedprioritisation of change programmes and projects. With new change governancegroups now thoroughly embedded and working effectively, the board has goodvisibility and control over the Department’s mission-critical change portfolio.18 TRANCHE 1 DEPARTMENTS: A YEAR ON