Appendix 2: Responses from the Department
for International Development and the Department for Culture,
Media and Sport
Response from the Department for International
Development -13 September 2011
Thank you for your letter of 24 April. I am very
sorry for the delay in replying, which was due to an administrative
error. Please find our response to your questions below.
What impact, if any, are the reforms envisaged
in the Government's "Big Society agenda" likely to have
on the way the DFID is organised and operates?
Since May 2010, DFID Ministers have recalibrated
our approach to reducing poverty in poor countries. This new approach
reflects many of the principles of the "Big Society agenda"
with a strong focus on empowering people to lead their own development,
particularly women and girls. DFID's Business Plan sets out a
number of commitments designed to give poor people more power
and control over how aid is spent. We are also investing in new
ways for UK citizens to become directly involved in international
development, for example through volunteering on the new International
Citizen Service and matching public appeals through UKAidMatch.
What structural reforms, if any, will be required
in DFID as a result of the reductions in running costs arising
from the Spending Review?
Following the Spending Review, DFID Ministers have
set out clearly a new future direction for DFID in the three reviews
of how the Department delivers development -the Bilateral Aid
Review (BAR), the Multilateral Aid Review (MAR) and the Humanitarian
and Emergency Response Review (HERR). At the heart of these reviews
is a clear determination to improve the impact and value for money
of UK Aid and make clear to the taxpayer what they results they
can expect.
To deliver the settlement agreed at the Spending
Review, DFID has an ambitious reform programme, including
- Reducing back office and other
support function costs by £19 million over four years. The
programme will look at staff and non-staff costs and, for our
overseas network, look at greater sharing of services and other
functions with the FCO and other Government Departments.
- Focussing our front-line delivery on providing
development assistance to fewer countries and having fewer country-based
offices. Our bilateral programme will now be supporting 27 focus
countries and we have already closed offices, including in China,
Russia and Serbia.
- Increasing our programmes and presence in fragile
states. This will ensure that we can deliver on the Strategic
Defence and Security Review commitment to spend 30% of aDA in
fragile states. We shall also ensure that we help drive the "Building
Stability Overseas Strategy".
- Focussing our effort and resources on securing
significant improvements in the effectiveness of the multilateral
organisations which deliver about 40% of global ODA.
How do you intend to implement these changes?
Do you have a formal plan in place, and if so what are its objectives,
and timelines?
These results (and others) and reforms captured by
the three aid reviews, together with the priorities set by the
Coalition Government in its Programme for Government and the results
agreed as part of the Spending Review, are captured in DFID's
Business Plan. Progress against the Business Plan is reviewed
by Ministers.
The priorities and results of DFID's Business Plan
have been cascaded down into individual operational plans. These
plans -in many cases set at individual Departmental level -set
out the detailed results and changes that each plan will expect
to deliver over the next four years. The operational plans are
also available on DFID's website.
What consideration has been given to retaining
or acquiring those skill sets -for example (i) expertise in contracting
and commissioning or (ii) facilitating community leadership and
social action -necessary to deliver the Government's reform plans?
DFID has a clear strategy for retaining and acquiring
the skill sets it needs to deliver Ministerial commitments and
priorities and has already started to change the composition of
the workforce to match the skills sets we need. We are committed
to increasing significantly our professional capacity in procurement,
private sector work and other areas, as well as the more traditional
development expertise in economics, health, education, etc.
What lessons do you draw from previous reforms
either within DFID, from other departments, or from other organisations
outside central government?
Our reform programme embraces more than our previous
change programme and brings together policy, development, human
and financial resource management to ensure that reforms support
the priorities set out in the Business Plan. A key lesson from
our earlier programmes was the need to pay greater attention to
the results and impact of our development programmes. We have
also used Cabinet Office's Change Directors network to use the
good practice being implemented elsewhere in Whitehall.
Does your reform process involve other government
departments or public bodies?
The Secretary of State for International Development
has undertaken a wholesale review of the role of CDC Group plc,
the government-owned UK development finance institution, to ensure
that it contributes fully to the coalition Government's development
objectives. The outcome of the review was encapsulated in a new
high-level business plan for CDC, which was announced at the end
of May 2011. HM Treasury and BIS (the Shareholder Executive) has
been involved throughout and the NAO has been kept abreast of
developments.
Analysis by Professor Kakabadse
I have read the brief presented by DFID and
have the following comments to make.
Due to the late submission from the Department for
International Development (DFID), I will focus on the key considerations
arising from their brief.
The DFID brief emphasises that the Department has
taken account of the principles of the 'Big Society' agenda through
its focus on empowering the underprivileged to exercise greater
power and control over the spending of aid money. Such intention
is exercised through three recent reviews surfacing how the Department
delivers development, namely, the Bilateral Aid Review (BAR),
the Multilateral Aid Review (MAR) and the Humanitarian and Emergency
Response Review (HERR).
Parallel to these reviews, and with the aim to improve
value for money, a further reform programme is pursued by DFID,
which involves,
- Reducing back office and support
function costs by £19 million over four years. This initiative
will involve the sharing of services and functions with other
departments.
- Focusing on front line delivery by providing
development assistance to fewer countries and the closing of offices
in other countries.
- Increasing programmes and presence in fragile
states, leading to the 'Building Stability Overseas Strategy'.
- Ensuring for significant improvements in the
effectiveness of multilateral organisation.
The changes and reforms outlined above are captured
in DFID's Business Plan which, in turn, has been cascaded into
operational plans.
Despite comment that a clear strategy for retaining
and acquiring skill sets is in place and that lessons have been
learnt from previous change and development programmes, little
detail is provided concerning:
- Which skill sets are to be
retained?
- Which skill sets are to be acquired?
- The challenges of leadership in integrating conflicting
objectives (namely, cost reduction versus improvement in front
line delivery and in multilateral organisation effectiveness).
- The morale of staff and management.
- The culture of the Department and whether that
enhances or inhibits the pursuit of change.
- The level of change preparedness of the staff
and management.
In the absence of such information, I feel obliged
to raise the question of whether DFID has given sufficient consideration
as to how its aims will be achieved.
The brief as written raises doubt concerning whether
the senior management have, or will develop, the necessary leadership
and management capability to lead through the changes they identify.
Response from Department for Culture, Media and
Sport - 13 September 2011
I am very sorry that you have not had a reply to
your letter of 24 April concerning the changes that we are implementing
in the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) to meet Spending
Review commitments. A reply was drafted at the time but not sent.
I can only offer my apologies and note as I said to the
Committee last week that this is particularly unfortunate
because over a year ago we established a comprehensive Change
Programme in DCMS that is now reaching the end of its first tranche
and has already delivered significant savings and improved ways
of working.[160]
Your letter asks about the impact of the Government's
Big Society agenda. DCMS is essentially a policy and project delivery
department, with most of our resources distributed to expert,
delivery organisations. We already work in a way that ensures
that we only intervene where we have to; where the market will
not deliver or there is a need to remove barriers and encourage
growth so that everyone can benefit from our sectors. Therefore
on a practical level the Big Society agenda does not directly
have an impact on the structural, administrative changes that
we are making in the department.
However we are continuing to play our role in the
Big Society. The DCMS Business Plan highlights our commitment
to work with Cabinet Office and the Treasury to boost philanthropy
and giving to cultural institutions. We have reformed the National
Lottery so that more money goes to the arts, culture and heritage
and the Big Lottery fund so that only voluntary and community
organisations are funded. We have also scrapped the rules on local
cross-media ownership to create more opportunities for local media
and are encouraging the creation of new local TV stations.
What structural reforms will be required in DCMS
as a result of the reductions in running costs arising from the
Spending Review? How do you intend to implement these changes?
What lessons have you drawn from previous reforms?
The Secretary of State, Jeremy Hunt MP has set out
an ambition to reduce the administrative spend of the department
by 50% by 2014/15[161].The
arm's length bodies that we sponsor have also been asked to make
similar reductions. This means that we are able to pass on only
15% reductions to front-line services and programmes.
The clear aim of our Change programme is to 'achieve
50% admin cost reductions in order to meet Spending Review targets
and build the best possible Department with a highly motivated,
diverse and talented workforce at the same time as prioritising
critical deliverables, including the Olympic and Paralympic Games'.
In December 2011 the additional challenge arose of the Machinery
of Government changes which led to DCMS taking on responsibility
for all competition and policy issues relating to media, broadcasting,
digital and telecoms sectors. Although we are a small Department
our responsibilities for overseeing the Olympics and delivering
policy on key areas such as Communications and Broadband make
the simultaneous reform of the Department very challenging and
important.
Attached at Annex A is short summary of the Change
programme and the projects we have completed in Tranche 1. In
setting up the programme we have built on previous reforms and
feedback from the last capability review to design a new model
Whitehall department that:
- Focuses on where we can have
the most impact and prioritises delivery of the commitments in
our Business Plan particularly, but not limited to, the Olympics
- Is flexible. People are encouraged to use their
skills and expertise across the business, resources are only assigned
to work that needs to get done and people are able to move quickly
from one project to another
- Is less bureaucratic and continues to look at
how to remove layers so work gets done quickly. One example of
this is that we have merged our Private Office and Correspondence/briefing
teams to form a coordinated and streamlined Ministerial Support
Team.
- Has a flatter structure and stronger focus on
empowering and equipping people that do the day-to-day work. We
have substantially reduced the number of Senior Civil Servants
(outside of the Olympic team) and now have a small, strong senior
leadership team. Staff outside of the SCS are empowered to lead
work and take decisions.
- Utilises project management techniques, with
a strong focus on risk management, milestone mapping and outputs.
The Change Programme itself has been set up using the MSP approach
to running successful programmes. The SRO is a member of my small
Director team. It reports to the Department's Executive Board
and a Programme Board which concentrates on risk management and
the measurement of benefits.
During the first phase of the programme we have ensured
that Secretary of State and Ministers are content that the Department
is delivering effectively. There are also other indicators that
we are a high performing organisation that offers value for money.
For example we are responding to about 60% of our correspondence
within 48 hours. We are continuing to deliver on our Business
Plan priorities; last month we missed only one deadline and this
was for important strategic reasons not project slippage. We are
also on track to exceed our target of reducing the 2011-12 pay
bill by £3 million, through the reductions to the SCS group
and a voluntary redundancy scheme offered to all grades.
Throughout the Change Programme I have placed a strong
emphasis on communication and the people that work in DCMS have
helped shape the new organisation. We have also refreshed Our
People Strategy and updated our Performance and Development systems
so they are compatible with our new ways of working and meet the
needs of our people. As we complete the first phase of the programme
we are seeking people's views on how the first tranche has gone
(through an online questionnaire, interviews and focus groups)
and we will act quickly to react to this feedback.
Planning is now under way for the second tranche
of the programme. This is a particularly busy period for us as
we move into final stages of planning and then delivering the
Olympic and Paralympic Games. I therefore want to make sure that
there is a stable environment for the people that work here. As
we now have the organisational infrastructure in place, the next
tranche will focus on: embedding the organisational changes and
culture; developing our people; exploring options for reducing
our non-pay costs; and preparing for the next phase of downsizing
below the Senior Civil Service which will happen after the Olympics.
Does your reform process involve other government
departments or public bodies?
The Director for organisation design in the Department
for Work and Pensions is a member of the Change Programme Board
and has been a useful source of expert advice. We are also working
closely with the Institute for Government (IfG) to assess the
impact and measure the benefits of the programme. I meet Lord
Adonis next week to discuss their initial findings. As the IfG
is working with a number of Government Departments we have found
this an efficient way of keeping in touch with good practice in
Whitehall.
We have chosen to only consult our stakeholders on
the Change Programme where absolutely necessary, so not to distract
from our primary objective of delivering on our projects and policies.
The arm's length bodies that we sponsor have been informed about
the programme and its progress and some of our strategic arm's
length bodies have had the opportunity to feed in their views
on the Change Programme. We are also working with our arm's length
bodies to review how we can more efficiently manage our sponsorship
and strategic policy making relationships. As we move through
the programme we will consider how we can further involve our
stakeholders to help assess how we are delivering and performing.
I hope this is helpful and can only apologise again
for the delay. I would of course be happy to provide further information
if needed.
Annex A - DCMS Change Programme
The DCMS Change Vision: To achieve 50% admin cost reduction to meet Spending Review targets and build the best possible Department with a highly motivated, diverse and talented workforce at the same time as prioritising critical deliverables including the Olympic and Paralympic Games
|
The Programme was launched at an all staff Conference on the 29
September 2010. It will be delivered in three Tranches:
Programme Governance
Tranche 1 Projects
| Project
| Completed
| Objectives
|
1
| Supporting Delivery Reviews
| December 2010
| Strategic reviews for Executive Board on:
- How we manage our Press and. Communications function in the new organisation,
- Recommendations for merge of PERU and Private Office
- How we lead and manage our analytical and evidence work
- Establishing the current level and nature of support provided to SCS (PAs)
- Establishing Grade A (u) current position and the need for the grade in the future
- How to manage flexible resourcing
|
2
| Recalibrating
Business
Scoping:
- DCMS Core
Policy
- Corporate
Services
| Core policy 31 Jan 2010
Corporate services
30 June 2011
GOE (legacy)
31 July 2011
|
- Gain a detailed understanding of the Department's current policy portfolio
- Identify key strategic issues of the Department's future policy portfolio
- Produce a revised resourcing map to capture all medium, long term and on-going policy work
- To recommend options-and for how to manage corporate services in the new organization,
- To recommend the structure and timetable for transition of GOE functions back to the rest of DCMS, and estimate the post-Games resource requirements
|
3
| Aligning resources to the Business Plan
| March 2011
|
- To agree what we need to stop or reduce
- To decide approach to cross cutting policies: International, Local, Lottery, Gambling
- To initiate implementation of consequences of those decisions
- To allocate resources (post selection and VR) to agreed and reduced delivery areas
- To map out delivery as V1 of our flexible resourcing spread sheet.
|
4 | Managing transition
| April 2014
|
- To support policy teams to make the transition from existing to newly agreed delivery priorities.
- To identify and resolve resourcing issues post SCS selection and VR exits
- To bring together newly appointed Heads of to discuss issues, gaps and interfaces for example between Press and Policy, MSU and Policy, Finance and Budgets.
|
5 | Accommodation to
deliver savings
| 01/03/2011
|
- To analyse the current position and Spending Review requirements
- To Identify available options for relocation and produce detailed costs and benefits for those options
- To implement option agreed by ExBoard
- To adhere to Green Book methodology.
|
6 | Downsizing Phase 1
| 01/03/2011
|
- To select and implement the new senior management structure
- To achieve headcount targets that deliver £3.035 million in year savings for 2011-12 through downsizing the SCS, a VR exercise for all staff and further Workforce Planning measures
- To support staff through the process
- To maintain an effective partnership with the Trade Unions
|
7 | Machinery of Government
Transfer and integration of staff and policy from BIS
| 12/04/2011
|
- To agree the scope of the transfer and produce a Memorandum of Understanding to ensure clarity of responsibility and ways of working between the two departments.
- For all associated staff and budgets to be transferred and all necessary support systems in place by April 2011.
- To support people in the transition and integrate.
|
8
| Flexible Resourcing
| 31/05/2011
|
- Set up the combined Programme Office (bringing together scoping and existing Programme Office) to support the work of new Policy Committee
|
9
| Industry Sponsorship
| 31/07/2011
| Produce a report that defines the sector liaison and business sponsorship role in the new DCMS seeking savings for re-deployment on priority projects and clear expectations of Heads of Sector subject areas.
|
10
| Systems update
| 31/08/2011
| An audit of Departmental systems, including DCMS Matrix, Nakissa, Integra, Liberata, Library Services, LiveLink, Oracle, Outlook, Records Centre Database, Correspondence System, Hub, Lottery Grants Database and PQ Database: To identify what needs to be done so that they are in sync with the organisation, and fully reflect the new structure and new flexible ways of working which have been introduced.
|
11
| DCMS purpose and defining our Culture
| September 2011
|
- To define the organisation we want to be. Developing the vision for DCMS this Parliament (purpose, approach and behaviours)
- To identify outputs/activities to anchor culture change
- To engage staff buy into the culture change
|
12
| Governance and Committees
| August 2011
| The delivery of a new governance structure to reflect the department's revised structure, and to reflect new requirements form the centre around Board level approaches.
|
| Business
Performance Management
| | New governance structures, required new reporting and measurement approaches. This work needed to reflect the TOR of the new committees, new continuous improvement approaches and new requirements from the centre (particularly at Departmental Board level).
|
13
| Developing the
Senior Leadership
Team
| | Supporting the development of the new Senior Leadership Team and putting in place the foundations for help the team develop.
|
14
| Empowering Grade
| 31/07/2011
|
- To define what the Department expects from and offers to Grade As for the future
|
As
|
|
15
| Review of Our
People Strategy
| 31/07/2011
| Review and refresh the DCMS Our People Strategy so that it reflects the needs of the people that work in DCMS,
our new approach and culture.
|
16
| Matrix
Management- New
approach to
management in
DCMS
|
September 2011
|
- Developing a new policy (through consultation) and implementing.
- Allocation of new Development Managers
- Forman Training for all on matrix management (beginning with Development Managers
|
17
| Grade Descriptions
| August 2011
| To support the recently introduced ways of working and in particular the roll out of flexible resourcing,
- To draft a set of grade descriptions which reflect the new organisation and which can be used for recruitment, development and redeployment.
- To describe a work environment that reflect what the Department does and is attractive to people in particular with a view to bring in talent
- To provide enough information to inform decisions from potential applicants: are they suitable? Are they interested
- To consult with colleagues and seed feedback from the Unions
|
18
| Performance and
Development (ADR)
|
31/07/2011
|
- Understanding and full support of the DCMS leadership team
- The system effectively differentiates high levels of performance and unsatisfactory one
- The new system is affordable, fair, transparent, simple sustainable, non discriminatory and supportive of departmental and Civil Service values.
- HR systems timely undated and synchronised
- Effective Learning and Development to make the process more effective
|
19 | Resourcing and
Promotion Policy
|
| Developing a new resourcing and promotion policies that enables us to work within the available resource and supports the new ways of working.
|
20 | Learning at Work
week
|
April 2011
|
- To bring to life the new ways of working (sharing knowledge and creating a feel of one DCMS)
- To raise awareness of our key work and projects. Help integrate new employees
|
21 | Staff Awards 2011
|
July 2011
|
- To celebrate achievements across DCMS.
- To help people feel "One DCMS".
- Improve morale during a time of change
|
22 | New DCMS Panel
and Sounding Board
| August 2011
| To set up a new DCMS panel that reflects our new ways of working and introduce a new 'Sounding Board'
|
23 | Internal Internet
Hub Restructure
| July 2011
| To ensure that the Hub reflected the new DCMS structure and ways of working.
|
Analysis by Professor Kakabadse
I have read the brief presented by DCMS and
have the following comments to make.
Due to the late submission by the Department for
Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), I will focus on the key considerations
arising from the brief.
The brief emphasises that 'Big Society' does not
clearly impact on the Department due to the fact that DCMS is
a policy and project delivery department, distributing DCMS resources
to expert delivery organisations. However, the point is made
that the DCMS Business Plan emphasises the commitment to work
with the Cabinet Office and Treasury to boost philanthropy and
giving to cultural institutions.
The brief further highlights the Change Programme
projects completed and the focus on designing a new model Whitehall
department that:
- Prioritises delivery of commitments
in the Business Plan in order to ensure for greatest impact.
- Encourages people to be flexible in their use
of skills.
- Removes organisational layers in order to be
less bureaucratic and encourage work to be done more flexibly.
- Empowers people through a flatter structure and
through having access to a smaller senior leadership team.
- Draws on project management techniques and skills
in order to address issues of risk and focus on outputs.
The brief informs of certain successes already realised
through the adoption of the principles highlighted above, such
as more efficient response to correspondence and being on track
to reduce costs of remuneration by £3 million. The brief
also indicates that the expertise and experience of other departments
and bodies, such as the Institute for Government, have been called
upon to progress change in DCMS.
The brief further highlights that these changes are
being pursued in conjunction with an administrative spend reduction
target of 50% by 2014/15.
The targets outlined in the brief are ambitious,
particularly those of reconciling flexible use of skills and expertise,
empowering staff and management, reducing organisational layers
versus driving through a cost reduction programme. In order to
realise such aims, further information is needed on the motivation
and morale of staff and management, their preparedness for change,
the leadership capability of senior DCMS managers to drive through
change and whether the culture of the Department is supportive
of the change programmes identified. Mention is made of these
points in the Business Plan but no further information is available
in order to gain sufficient insight as to the likely success of
the change. From the level of detail provided, it is likely that
DCMS management has given due consideration as to how its aims
will be achieved. However, with the minimal information provided,
the question I raise is whether the management have the leadership
capability to pursue the contrasting objectives of cost reduction
and encouraging staff empowerment and flexible use of skills.
More information is needed on how the senior managers of the
Department are able to address the challenges they face in bringing
about change.
160 Oral evidence from Jonathan Stephens, Permanent
Secretary, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 6 September
2011, HC 1389-ii, Qq 215-22. Back
161
At the beginning of the Programme this meant that the Department
would need to cost £26m by 2014/15. This has been revised
following the Machinery of Government changes to £30m. Back
|