Good Governance and Civil Service Reform

The implications of this for good governance are profound. In the past the UK has operated a political and policy making system based upon a centralised, industrial-era model, which assumes the mass-production of public services, and the individual consumer’s right to complain-whether through an election, ombudsman or a constituency surgery. This is accountability of sorts, but represents an out-dated era when it was impossible (in practical terms) for everyone to have a say in government, to feed their ideas for how policy should be formulated. There is now potential for a dynamic consultation process engaging society in a constant democratic process and soliciting continuous feedback in both directions. Using technology, and leveraging the power of the networks it sustains, the relationship between the individuals, organisations and the state can be transformed.

Such changes to governance in the UK, however, need not only sustained political will but also a Civil Service prepared to initiate and maintain radical reform. Both Whitehall Departments and the wider civil service need to be leaders in technological and procedural innovation facilitating a much more developed consultation and collaboration framework. There needs to be a two-fold shift in how the service will operate in a post bureaucratic world. A reduction in Departments’ focus on exclusive powers and domains and adoption of a networked model of policy formation incorporating greater cross departmental co-operation and devolving greater input to civil society, with a simultaneous increase in the strategic role of the central departments of the service in setting the frameworks for a holistic approach to policy implementation [2] . At the Conference for the Post Bureaucratic Age [3] on the 22 February 2010 this was identified as a key facet of the post bureaucratic age-that there is no ‘inside government’ and ‘outside government’ – everyone helps to govern. In his address to the conference Bill Eggers highlighted that building and managing these networks should become a core competency of government. In terms of process, this implies a more collaborative approach making much greater use of consultation and a fundamental focus on transparency.

2. Can the traditional ‘Whitehall’ model of civil service governance and accountability continue to function effectively in the post-bureaucratic age?

No. The traditional Whitehall model of government is predicated on the principle of elective democracy and ‘government knows best’. Legitimacy and democracy are maintained because Ministers are answerable to Parliament, and the House of Commons is elected by the people. In this system decisions are taken by Ministers (and if necessary by the whole Cabinet) and implemented by a politically neutral and expert civil service [4] .

The centralisation and exclusivity that characterises this model is at odds with politics in a post bureaucratic age. The modern Civil Service has to both accept that it is not the sole source of expertise for policy implementation and that it has a new role; to engage public expertise throughout the policy making process deriving a dual source of democratic legitimacy from elected ministers and from continuous engagement with the public. Indeed, there will be many areas in which government will primarily be the platform via which the public can connect with each other-facilitating collaborative and decentralised approaches to policy.

As an example of best practice ‘Health Forum Canada’ is a stand out case. From 1994-1997 the forum was chaired by Prime Minister Chretien and included the Health Minister as well as representatives from provincial ministries, policy analysts and experts, community activists, doctors and groups of Canadian citizens. The forum interacted via multiple means-through internet discussion groups, telephone surveys, conferences and deliberative events and through on-going polling and demonstrates the scope modern governments and civil services have to engage as many stakeholders as possible in a democratic policy making process that goes beyond simple elective democracy. The end result was a report to the Prime Minister entitled "Canada Health Action: Building on the Legacy", that helped set the direction of health policy in the country [5] .

3. In what ways do civil service departments need to adapt to a post bureaucratic age, and in particular to the current Coalition Government’s decentralisation agenda?

The following comprise a suggested action plan for how the Civil Service could best adapt to existing in a post bureaucratic age.

· The coalition’s transparency agenda [6] should be a main priority for the Civil Service: The government’s guidelines for data release [7] should be rigorously applied-that there should be a presumption that data will be released and an opt-out only in exceptional circumstances and furthermore that all data should ultimately be open format-in a standardised, re-usable, machine-readable form without restrictions on re-use or re-purposing. Open data forms a cornerstone of the post bureaucratic age, permitting a far greater level of accountability than has been possible in the past and facilitating the networked approach of policy formulation and added value services. By continuing to push this as a primary policy initiative the Civil Service can also begin to build the attitudinal change that sees as standard an open and networked approach to public service provision rather than an elite and hierarchical model.

Moreover, in a post bureaucratic world transparency is synonymous with participation-they form two sides of the same coin. By rapidly extending its data and information release the Civil Service can effectively stimulate public and stakeholder participation that will form the cornerstone of its operation in a post bureaucratic world.

Wheredoesmymoneygo.org provides an example of the potential for both increased accountability and the added value third parties’ participation can bring through utilising freely available government data. By aggregating government spending figures and presenting them in an easily understandable format the scope for democratic accountability is vastly increased and third parties can use the information to better target their services and develop greater value in the public sphere.

Wikleaks has shown that this information may often emerge anyway; the civil service should make a virtue of a necessity and use transparency as a powerful tool for engagement.

· Complete transparency in policy formulation: This should be a medium term goal of the modern Civil Service-to open up the black box of policy formulation by an aggressive push to make transparent the inner workings of Whitehall. In a post bureaucratic age, public decision making should be entirely transparent allowing proper accountability and the opportunity for effective third party collaboration. Data release, even in perfect form is only part of this and the Civil Service should make it a priority to release as much additional information of policy making practice as possible. This forms the information and communication aspects of the post bureaucratic triumvirate. The Departmental Business Plans and organograms represent an effective start but greater emphasis should be placed on giving meaning to datasets, ensuring information is jargon free and in particular directly related to a policy stream. A list of departmental priorities would also be useful.

Opening up the black box of policy formation and rationalising procedures will form an important enabling factor in the coalition government’s decentralising agenda-allowing effective devolution of responsibilities and ultimately opening up a market for public service provision (see later).

· Embrace new technology: A 2008 study by Accenture found that ‘the United Kingdom has not implemented electronic products and services that facilitate e-information, e-consultation and e-decision-making to the same extent as the United States, Sweden, France, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have.’ [8] The post bureaucratic age is built on a platform of rapid technology adoption. Though improvements have been made in e-information-in particular we recognise the transparency section of number10.gov.uk and data.gov.uk [9] , significant benefits could be gained from an adoption of improved e-consultation processes as well as collaborative online spaces for innovative e-decision making. Any consultation process should be methodologically sound, broad reach and long-term. We feel the Civil Service has in particular failed to meet post bureaucratic expectations on this measure.

· Reduce regulation and micro-management: We applaud the changes to regulation policy outlined in the Coalition Agreement [10] but would recommend that the Civil Service go further and use the re-structuring of the regulation regime to frame and drive forward deeper structural changes to the Civil Service itself. De-regulation in the Civil Service should accompany a sustained move away from micro-management and a strategic re-positioning of the Civil Service not as a centralising monolith, hoarding power, but as a networked facilitator of public service. This will not only free up space for innovative development of collaborative policy delivery but will also form a key underpinning to the Coalition’s decentralising agenda.

· Procurement and commissioning policy needs to be radically overhauled: Taking just one example, a report from the Network for the Post Bureaucratic Age highlights that the the British government currently spends somewhere between £16 billion and £23 billion on IT every year [11] . Firstly, this astonishing lack of clarity over expenditure is symptomatic of appalling failures in IT strategy, procurement, and process. Secondly, this sort of expenditure cannot be allowed to continue, especially during a time of spending cuts in frontline services. The annual cost dwarfs some government departments. It is three times the amount we spend on the army, more than the Department for Transport. By strongly pursuing a completely transparent procurement process and ensuring genuinely open competition the Civil Service can dramatically improve effectiveness and decrease costs. At the moment, the government contracts with a handful of large companies to provide certain services. Small businesses, which may be more efficient, are locked out by the opacity of the tendering process. If, however, the full details of all government contracts were published online, entrepreneurs could examine them item-by-item to see whether they could undercut the established contractors. The potential for savings is enormous. If the government shaved just 5% from the cost of its procurement contracts, £7 billion would be saved every year.

· Change motivational structures: A post bureaucratic civil service should seek to maximise how responsive it is. The current motivational structures-running as they do to the rhythms of general elections and the focus on top-down process rather than results create a culture where exactly the opposite is true. An Accenture report [12] highlights in particular the negative impact of the significant time lag between performance and performance assessment imposed by the election cycle as well as the association between high performing public services and a relentless outcome and value-focus. By re-orientating the Civil Service to be results driven and under continuous scrutiny from the consumers of those results-the public-a radical change in outlook can be achieved with no additional cost. The same Accenture report notes that high performing organisations are always exceptionally aware of changes in their environments, and able to translate insight into action. Through implementing a thorough and sustained dialogue with third parties and the Civil Service will be transformed.

· Re-structure: The culmination of all these adjustments will be significant structural reforms. By changing how the Civil Service interacts with both the public and third parties, through transparency, accountability and a networked approach, by changing its focus to results and continuous assessment, and by changing its methods of procurement and commissioning to be more focused and modern the Civil Service will be reformed as a powerful agent of genuine public interest; combining both the best of the traditional Civil Services expertise and experience with a more collaborative and public-centric post bureaucratic focus.

4. What should the aim of civil service reform be at a time of significant change and reducing administrative budgets?

The Treasury is insisting that the budgets to run the Whitehall departments and their arm’s length bodies themselves fall by a third or more over the coming four years. This economic reality will form a crucial context to any attempts at reform for maybe a decade to come. However, it is worth heeding the conclusions reached by Bernard Jenkin and PASC on the ‘bonfire of the Quangos’. That

‘This was a fantastic opportunity to help build the Big Society and save money at the same time, but (that) it has been botched.’ [13]

We believe that the change to the Civil Service as part of a post bureaucratic world can be a part of the solution to the need for government savings, not an extra burden. However, this requires action now. The Civil Service has got to realize that ‘more of the same’ cannot work in the current economic climate. More importantly, ‘less of the same will not work either’ [14] . Instead of simply cutting cross board, or indeed cutting on the basis of a centralised bureaucratic model of Civil Service, cuts should be integrated into a fundamental restructuring and re-orientation.

The new civil service should retain at its heart its commitment to public service. Indeed it should extend this in a post bureaucratic age by dramatically stepping up its dialogue with the public. However, it should also be smaller and more strategic. It should be highly focused on its core capabilities, and adopt decentralising and outsourcing strategies to improve efficiencies in noncore activities [15] . More radically, data release and a networked approach should form the basis for a fundamental shift in the remit of the Civil Service-taking on an agenda-setting role, but increasingly reaching out to third parties to build collaborative public projects that leverage the considerable innovative strength of the private sector in a new market for public services. [16]

5. How can such reform be realised and sustained?

To provide sustainable reform a new, results focused culture needs to be driven through the Civil Service, with reform at its heart. The key principles of good governance in a post bureaucratic age below must be incorporated into current civil service best practice to form the benchmark for any future reform or policy formulation.

More revolutionary key stakeholders and the public should be invited into the reform process and engaged in a genuine sense. They should be included early; the dialogues should capture as wide a portion of the population and key stakeholders as possible, and should form an on-going and involved role in the formation of reform policy. By this means the Civil Service will not only signal its shift into a post bureaucratic age but external pressure and publicity will provide a key driving factor for reform.

Key to this is transparency. Transparency and participation go hand in hand and by continuing to pursue a strong transparency agenda the civil service can drive forward its transition towards a networked model of governance leveraging the collective power of public expertise and third party stakeholders.

6. Is it possible to establish a set of key principles of good governance?

Yes. But these must be more than guidelines. They have to be developed into a comprehensive, quantifiable checklist against which further action can be measured-utilising the restructuring frameworks seen in the private sector [17] . These have to be seen as a results-focussed set of key principles, not process driven and need to be vigorously applied across all reforms and future policy.

7. Are these the right elements for such principles? Can there be fewer or should others be included?

We would highlight the following points:

· Accountability

o Accountability to ministers, Parliament and the public

o Propriety and ethics

o Transparency and openness

This forms a crucial enabling environment for any post bureaucratic governance to occur. However, transparency and accountability alone will not create a paradigm shift. It must be accompanied by a fundamental culture shift amongst policy makers and a willingness of civil servants to shoulder responsibility to engage and listen to society outside Whitehall.

· External relationships and customer focus

o Relationship to civil society and local communities

o Citizens’ experience of public services

This is crucial to achieve the empowerment that is such a foundation of the post bureaucratic age. An Accenture report in 2008 [18] noted that the UK fell short of other comparable countries on achieving a citizen centred approach and, while placing great importance on citizen, user and stakeholder Consultations, does not consult to the extent that countries such as Canada, Australia and Finland do. Nor does consultation take place in as systematic a manner as it does in the countries cited above. How the Civil Service reacts to its changing relationship with the public, local authorities and third parties will be crucial to the success of any reforms.

We would also add one further principle:

· Networked and open

o Dialogue and consensus, not authority, hierarchy and demand

o Open-bounded networks

o Decentralised and inclusive

Drawing from the work of Charles Heckscher [19] on post bureaucratic organisation we strongly advocate the fundamental shift of Civil Service from an out dated, centralising and exclusive Haldane Model to one that is networked and porous, leveraging collaborative work to drive forward innovative solutions to public service challenges.

8. How can they be most clearly and usefully expressed /  how could they be made useful for the measurement and assessment of good governance?

The principles for good governance should be leveraged as a genuine tool for reform, creating a quantifiable check list against which new policy and Civil Service reform can be measured. We suggest traffic light system with all reforms and policy aiming to fulfil all aspects of the principles stated above. An incentive structure should be created which places priority on how far policies are congruent with these principles to help enshrine them in Civil Service culture and ensure they take their rightful place as pillars of a new, modern civil service.

January 2011