|
As the end of this Parliament approaches, we have taken the opportunity to look back on our work, the impact it has had, and to set out areas that we hope will be of interest to our successor Committee. As one of a small number of cross-government select committees, we gain a perspective on the state of Whitehall and its agencies which is not available to departmental select committees.
Throughout the past five years, the recurring theme of our findings and recommendations reflects the importance of effective leadership in creating effective organisations. Our work has shown that it is the positive or negative attitudes and behaviour in the people and the culture of an organisation which determines success or failure. Structures, processes and systems are important too, but preoccupation with these so often becomes a distraction from the real problems, which are about why people do not share information for the common good, collaborate effectively and trust one another. We are encouraged by the thinking and conversations prompted by our work, but realistic that the same issues will keep arising until there is a comprehensive determination to address the attitudes and behaviour of all the most senior Ministers and officials. Many of the other controversies which continue to arise, such as Special Advisers repeatedly getting into trouble, or doubts about Civil Service impartiality, the failure of cross departmental working, the lack of long-term strategic underpinning of ministerial decisions, stem from a lack of understanding of this imperative. The leadership of independent bodies like the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and of the Charity Commission are confronting the same challenges. The UK enjoys one of the best systems of government in the world, but we have much to learn from the very best systems in other governments and from parts of the private sector.
During this period, PASC has also been at the forefront of innovation for Select Committees. We took control of the process of selection of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) away from the Government altogether, so that for the first time Parliament has appointed its Ombudsman. We have also held many pre-appointment hearings for the Chairs of public bodies. We were the first Select Committee to refuse to accept a government nomination for the chair of a public body. The Government was forced to re-run the selection for the post of Chair of the UK Statistics Authority under a new selection panel, and to propose a different candidate. We were pleased then to support the appointment of Sir Andrew Dilnot as the new Chair of the Authority. We also now hold hearings on PHSO's thematic reports, to interrogate and hold to account those who must respond to its recommendations, in the same way that the Public Accounts Committee has historically held hearings on National Audit Office reports. We also take a closer interest in feedback from those who have complained through PHSO.
PASC has worked together effectively as a team despite our political differences and the often controversial issues we have tackled. Not all of our reports have been agreed unanimously, but we never divided on party lines. This can be attributed to the commitment of Members to approaching our work in a professional, positive and serious way.
|
