Letter to the Chairman of the Committee
from Sir Peter Ricketts KCMG, Permanent Under-Secretary, Foreign
and Commonwealth Office
FCO: CAPABILITY REVIEW
The Department has just undergone a re-Review
by the Capability Reviewers, two years after their original report.
I wanted to give you early sight of the resulting report (enclosed).[4]
I'm pleased to say that they found we had made real
progress in all the areas for action they identified last time.
They recognised our engagement with their original report and
its findings and commended our enthusiasm, commitment and energy
to change and improve.
Our most improved ratings were for leadership (an
increase in all the categories). This tallies with our recent
staff survey results which also showed that our staff think the
leadership of the organisation is improving. The reviewers welcomed
our clearer direction, the performance of the Board, and our campaign
to make the best use of the talents of all of our staff.
On strategy, the Reviewers found that our Departmental
Strategic Objectives were helping staff focus work on priority
areas, and that we have built up the capacity of the Department
to do strategy work. They noted that 91% of our Government partners
thought we were doing a good job for them. They also recognised
that working relationships between the FCO, MOD and DFID have
improved noticeably, lead by Permanent Secretaries.
On delivery, the reviewers said we had improved
our tools to manage, prioritise and drive delivery, with better
business plans and management information (one rating increased
in this block). They were impressed with the way our network is
innovating, in particular the adoption of a hub and spoke model
in our Nordic/Baltic network.
Under each heading the report also sets out
areas where we need to improve further. These include ensuring
that our many change programmes remain coherent and mutually reinforcing,
and deliver real improvements to performance; considering the
implications of innovative regional networks such as the Nordic/Baltic
network for the relationship between London and Posts, and linking
strategic workforce planning to these innovations.
When they met the Board to tell us their findings,
the reviewers encouraged us to maintain our pace of improvement
and continue to think radically about our place in a changing
world. But they had confidence that genuine change had begun and
would continue; that our improved leadership would help deliver
further change.
This is a positive message for the organisation.
We were able to discuss it, at the Leadership Conference of all
of our Ambassadors last week, in relation to the big issues ahead,
particularly the implications of the economic crisis for foreign
policy and the FCO.
We certainly don't underestimate the scale of
challenges we face. But this Review gives grounds for confidence
that the FCO has the capacity to adapt to a fast-changing agenda,
in order to continue to deliver excellent foreign policy and services
to the citizen internationally.
I would be happy to discuss the issues raised
by this Review with the Committee at my next evidence session.
31 March 2009
4 Not printed. See http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/Assets/FCO-WEB_tcmb6-6654.PDF Back
| 
