243. Institute for Government Annual Reports 2009, 2010, 2011, Excerpts

7/31/2019 243. Institute for Government Annual Reports 2009, 2010, 2011, Excerpts.

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Institute for Government

Annual Report and Accounts

5th

April 2009

FOREWORD

By Lord David Sainsbury of Turville, Founder of the Institute and Chair of Governors

The mission of the Institute For Government is simply to work with politicians and civil servants to improve the

machinery and working of Government so that it can meet todays challenges......The Institute is working closely with

the Civil Service, and we are particularly pleased by the active support that we have received from the Cabinet

Secretary, Sir Gus ODonnell....We are also working with all three main political parties and are delighted with their

enthusiastic involvement in our agenda. The Institute already has a full programme of activities, among them Peter

Riddell and Catherine Haddons work on transitions between governments, in which they are studying what hasmade for successful transitions in the past and drawing practical lessons on how to prepare better for future changes

of government....

Introduction

By Sir Michael Bichard

...Our ambition is to help make Government in this country more effective by commissioning research, by providing

learning and development opportunities for all senior decision makers and by offering advice and support where

requested. We are an independent, non-aligned charity able to work with all political parties as well as the Senior

Civil Service.......we have established strong working relationships with all the major political parties, and with the

most senior level of civil service.......In the period before the next election in 2010, we shall be publishing a wide

range of important reports on the issues which matter most to the next Government.....

The Objects of the Charity

The Institute for Governments charitable objects are:

The advancement of education in the art and science of government in the UK for the benefit of the public on a

non-party political basis, and

The promotion of efficient administration of government and public service in the UK by providing programmes of

education, training, research and study for the public benefit on a non-party political basis.

Background

The Institute for Government (the Institute) is an independent charity. We work with all the main political

parties in Westminster and with senior civil servants in Whitehall, providing evidence based advice that draws on

best practice from around the world.....

Principal Activities of the Charity

Research

...we have already conducted and published our first major report, agreed our early research priorities with

Governors and embarked on a range of ambitious projects that we expect to complete through the course of 2009.

Our first research reportPerformance Artwas published in December 2008...aimed at ...improving joined up

service delivery across different arms of government.....


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In the wake of the Performance Artproject, three major research themes for the Institute were identified. These

were

the Whitehall of the future The role of the State Topical subjects on governance

From early 2009, research began in earnest on two major projects. The first of these corresponded to the first ofour themes, and has been loosely titled Reshaping the Centre. This project is analysing the strengths and

weaknesses of the Whitehall machine and the Civil Service seen in an international perspective, as well as

examining specific issues such as the division of responsibility between the centre and Departments.....The second

major project, loosely called the Fiscal Squeeze....Other projects begun early in 2009 include work and seminars on

Non-Departmental Government Bodies (NDGBs); minority Government....

Learning and Development

Central to the Institutes objectives is the need for it to play a proactive and innovative role in the development of

the most senior policy makers in the UK including politicians and senior civil servants, in particular the Top

200.....build on the development of offerings for the opposition parties and for serving ministers....We have

commenced a series of breakfast briefing sessions for the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Shadow Ministers and

plan to continue this over the next few months. The Institute was also invited to evaluate the Ministry of Justices

Transformation programme. By providing independent assessment and challenge, the Institute will be able to

provide the Ministry with a better understanding of how transformation is progressing, thus enabling better decision

making....

Future Plans

Research:

Completion of the research themes arising out of the Performance Artresearch project, Reshaping theCentre, Fiscal Squeeze and Transitions; how governments have handled transitions of power in local and

central government.

Completion of research and seminars on NDPBs *Non Departmental Public Bodies] and a case study on amajor government department.

Minority Government lessons and implications from the conduct of minority government in the UK nationsand overseas.

Learning and Development:

Continuation of the breakfast briefing sessions for Conservative and Liberal Democrat Shadow Ministers Ministerial Development Programme Work with the top 200 Civil Servants Ministry of JusticeTransformation programme evaluation and service design, Problem solving work with NDPBs.

Achievement of Public Benefit

...Together, these reports and the events arising out of the reports will provide a robust evidence base on the

governance of the UK, thereby equipping the public with knowledge and information on the issues affecting the

governing of the UK and the training of its current and future ministers.


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5th

April 2010

Foreword

By Lord David Sainsbury of Turville, Founder of the Institute and Chair of the Governors

The mission of the Institute For Government is to work with politicians and civil servants to improve and machinery

and working of Government to meet the needs and challenges of today. We have continued to enjoy the active

support of Gus ODonnell, the Cabinet Secretary, and all three main political parties in our first full year of work.

Some of our work this year was particularly timely: Peter Riddell and Catherine Haddons report on Transitions was

predictably well received. It also set an excellent pattern of rigorous thought, cross-party engagement with

politicians and civil servants in reaching its conclusions, and influential dissemination. Less predictably, Robert Hazell

and Akash Paun's report on Making Minority Government work and its discussion of minority and coalition

governments was immediately useful. Our seminars on fiscal consolidation, including international comparisons with

Canada and Sweden, brought good and influential new material to the debate on how to make budgetary cuts while

improving efficiency. We also developed what will be long term and continuing themes of the Institute on the

workings of Whitehall and its departments in the report on Shaping Up, led by Simon Parker and in continuing work

on quangos - non-departmental and arm's length public bodies. Meanwhile, in addition to programmes for senior

ministers in the existing Labour government, Zoe Gruhn put together well-received breakfast briefings for shadowConservative and Liberal Democrat ministers who are now, or course, in a position to put them into practice....

Introduction

By Lord Bichard

...As an independent, non-aligned charity we were able to work closely with all three major parties in the run up to

the election and produced influential research reports on issues as diverse as managing fiscal consolidation;

reforming the centre of government, handling the transition from one administration to another and the

implications of a coalition government. The last of these was widely quoted and drawn upon as the coalition becamea reality....We shall now be offering many more structured programmes to politicians and thereby hoping, for

example, to support the many Ministers who have not had previous Government experience....


...The year....culminated (just after the financial year end) in the election and formation of Britains first coalition

government in a generation....

Research

As mentioned in last year's report, three major early research themes for the Institute were:

the Whitehall of the future The role of the State Topical subjects on governance

An early and high profile success of the year was a series of seminars on the subject of fiscal consolidation ....lower

profile seminars in the same series, including on Sweden, on Britains own history of previous fiscal consolidations,

and on other countries experiences of creating independent bodies to monitor the state of public finances all proved

extremely educational and helpful to the UKs policy-making community and to key commentators in the press...

A second major output was the publication of the report, Shaping Up....It examined subjects such as the appropriate

role of the centre versus departments......A third output was the publication of a report on Transitions, by Peter

Riddell and Catherine Haddon. This timely report documented previous major political transitions in British

government including 1997,1979 and 1974, as well as those in local government and other comparable countries....


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The report powerfully informed our ongoing development work with the Opposition and civil service in the run-up to

the 2010 election....A number of its recommendations ...were subsequently adopted into government policy and

revised constitutional practice.

A close complement to the Transitions work was a report on Making Minority Government work, by Robert Hazell

and Akash Paun. Though regarded by many as a rather obscure topic when first commissioned, by the time of its

publication it proved to be an extremely prescient and important document. Whitehall, the public, and even

political parties where highly unprepared for the many challenges and differences that could be thrown up by advent

of a coalition or minority government. The report and supporting activities by the Institute (in partnership with the

Constitution Unit) led directly to the establishment and publication of the Cabinet Manual by the Cabinet Secretaryin the run-up to the election. Needless to say, post-election the impact was even greater.

Other research activities.....included subjects such as on government ICT; arm-length bodies (quangos); behaviour

change; social exclusion (as a case study in the challenges of silo-based government): government and the media;

and the orchestration of national security and foreign policy.

Themes for the coming year were agreed with Governors to include:

The policy-making process Managing the civil service Wider government decentralization and outsourcing Ministers and civil servants (including background research to support our learning and

development activities for senior public servants)

Contemporary issues....In sum, it was a remarkable year, with several of the Institute's early publications proving timely...As one prominent

public commentator put it, in relation to our research and educational activities in the long run-up to the 2010

election: I don't know what we would have done without the Institute'....

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

...Breakfast briefing sessions were..held with Shadow Conservative and Liberal Democrat ministers as preparation for

Government covering areas such as Government communications, the access process in Whitehall, being an

effective minister, working with the Centre, from strategy to delivery. Private Office logistics, role and effectiveness

of SpAds, [Special Advisors]EU and its workings and transformation and change in organisation private and public

sector perspectives.

...The Institute was invited by the Ministry for Justice to evaluate the design phase of its major transformation

programme, Transforming Justice...

A number of forums have been developed across Whitehall and wider which includes CEOs of NDPBs [Non

Departmental Government Bodies], Change Directors, members of the Senior Civil Service and Fast Streamers to

discuss common challenges and issues informing debates through our research and access to a wide range of subjectmatter experts.

Future Plans

The outcome of the General Election, the formation of the Coalition Government and the election of a high

proportion of MPs new to Parliament present significant opportunities for the Institute.

Throughout 2010-2011 a major work programme will be pursued, building upon ongoing learning and development

activity, to reflect and meet the needs of the new political landscape. Key elements of this programme will include:

Induction events for new MPs in conjunction with the Hansard Society Programmes for Special Advisers. Research into the role and effectiveness of SpAds [Special Advisors] Research into the role and requirements of Secretaries of State in their early period of Office. Separate

programmes for Secretaries of State and for non-cabinet Ministers which will be highly flexible in timing and

content

Events for newly appointed Select Committee members


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A programme for aspiring ministers who are newly elected MPs across all Parties. A programme of activity including further research, on departmental Boards and how their effectiveness can

be improved.

Research led by Senior Fellow Peter Riddell and Director of Learning Zoe Gruhn into Ministerial effectivenessand the implications for future ministerial development.....


The Institute has produced high-quality research reports and analysis that are independent of government, political

parties, individual clients or companies.... these reports ..... will provide a robust evidence base on the governance of

the UK, thereby equipping the public with knowledge and information on the issues affecting the governing of the

UK and the training of its current and future ministers....

31st

March 2011

Foreword

By Lord David Sainsbury of Turville, Founder of the Institute and Chair of Governors

...We continue to have the active support of the Cabinet Secretary and of all three parties, as much now under the

Coalition as before under a Labour government, and combine work with all of them....

Introduction

By Lord Adonis

The Institute for Government won Prospect Magazine's 2010 Think Tank of the Year Award, a remarkable

achievement in barely two years of existence. The judges described the Institute as indispensable, praising its workon hung parliaments, the coalition, and financial consolidation. Chair of the judging panel, Ben Rogers said, Just

think of the role that the Institute for Government... played in preparing the ground for a hung parliament and

enabling the creation of a coalition government. ...

We have significant programmes of work on civil service reform, policy-making, ministerial and opposition

effectiveness, elected mayors for Englands major cities outside London, IT in government, parliamentary

accountability, and various aspects of constitutional reform. We are also analysing the nature and consequences of

coalition government, a peacetime novelty for modern Britain. In all these respects we are a much a do tank as a

think tank.

As an independent charity, we have no partisan axe to grind and exist purely to promote better government. It is amission never short of worthwhile projects.....


A more effective Whitehall. This theme covers the respective roles of ministers and civil servants, themanagement of the civil service and the roles of the centre and departments.

New models of governance and public services. This theme covers the functioning of arm's lengthgovernment, the governance necessary for effective localism and emerging models for managing public

services.

Better policy making. This theme covers the core work of Whitehall in developing policy and new additionsto the policy maker's tool kit.

Leadership for government. This theme covers leadership development for ministers,special advisers and potential ministers, and on-going development support for the SCS.

Parliament and the political process. This theme covers the overall political scrutiny of Government and thearena from which the next generation of ministers emerge....


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A more effective Whitehall

The Institute has been working with the Ministry of Justice throughout 2010-11 on its major change programme

Transforming Justice....Further departments have now asked the Institute to provide them with similar support.

The research has also given the Institute a unique understanding of transformation in the civil service, which the

Public Administration Select Committee (PASC)has been keen to tap into as part of their inquiry into good

governance and civil service reform. The lnstitute provided evidence to the enquiry, one of our researchers acted as

the committee's specialist adviser, and one of our blogs substantially shaped the way that PASC conducted itshearing with Francis Maude and Gus O'Donnell....

In early 2011, the Improving Government IT project published its final report, System Error: fixing the flaws in

government IT following an innovative 9 month research project. This involved close working with key stakeholders

and decision makers. This ensured that the report's recommendations had an enthusiastic reception. lan Watmore,

the Government Chief Operating Officer described the report as firstclass. This view was echoed by Joe Harley, the

Government Chief Information Officer who said I find the report very helpful. The approach to platform and agile is

useful and constructive...we are always looking for ways to improve and this report has a number of very useful

recommendations for us to consider as we formulate our ICT Strategy. I look forward to working with the Institute in

the future. Mark ONeill, Chief Information Officer at two government departments and leader of the cross-

government Skunkworks, said he planned to adopt many of the recommendations immediately and try and makethem part of his organisations DNA.

As a result of our work our Senior Fellow, Sir Ian Magee, was invited to give evidence to the PASC Inquiry into

government IT and the lnstitute has been asked to advise on the select committee's final report. The report has also

been welcomed by the wider IT community.... Our recommendations were widely covered by the BBC, Guardian,

Financial Times as well as specialist press such as Public Finance, Computer Weekly and Computer World.Our paper The State of Commissioning was intended as a first step into the area of public sector markets....

New models of governance and public services

Improvement in arms length government is one of the lnstitute's main issues, and we have returned to this topicthroughout the year. In July, Read Before Burning, our account of how the new government should deal with Arm's

Length Bodies (ALBs), had immediate pick up in government and Parliament....

Our first recommendation was that the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) should scrutinise any new

proposals for an ALB - and this recommendation was accepted by Cabinet Office Minister, Francis Maude, in

evidence to the PASC the week after our report was published. The PASC inquiry on public bodies sought evidence

from the lnstitute and its report picked up a range of our conclusions including the need for a simplier taxonomy of

public bodies.

Our briefing note on the government's public bodies bill, and in particular the problems of Schedule 7, which failed

to understand the need for independence of a number of key public bodies was widely cited in the Lords debate; thegovernment ultimately withdrew this schedule in the Lords...

Over 2010-11, the Institute was one of the leading commentators on the implications of the Big Society agenda for

government. We have presented our work from a wide range of government departments including No 10, Cabinet

Office, the Department of Health, the Department for Communities & Local Government and the Department for

the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. We have also provided speakers for a number of external conferences to

discuss and debate the Big Society. We also continue to work closely with the Cabinet Office on the role of the Big

Society Bank, the mutualisation agenda and the implications of the Big Society for policymakers.

Better policy makingThe Institute's key recommendations on how behavioural insights could be captured within the

policy process were set out in our MINDSPACEreport, which was prepared jointly with Cabinet

office. This remains our most down loaded report in 2010 and we have repeated requests to

present on it to government and non-government audiences. The report's methodology has been


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adopted across departments and is being used as the framework for the new 'behavioural insight

team' based in No 10....

Leadership for Government

Following the General Election, the formation of the Coalition and the election of a high proportion of MPs new to

Parliament presented significant opportunities for the Institute....

We wrote and published three guides: Taking the Helm, Oiling the Machine and Hello Minister. These were aimed at

enabling Cabinet Ministers to secure early effectiveness after taking office, helping Special Advisers to occupy theirroles quickly and effectively and assisting Private Offices in meeting the needs of new ministers. In parallel, we

undertook induction sessions for all three groups.

Six months into the new government, we hosted a session for ministers in collaboration with the Minister for the

Cabinet Office which enabled participants to reflect on progress to date and to hear about centrally run change

programmed....

The report argued that more needed to be done to prepare less experienced people for their roles as ministers and

that they have the opportunity to develop further after they have taken up their posts. This was backed up by a

number of specific recommendations aimed at helping improve ministerial effectiveness. These included limiting

reshuffles, having better mechanisms to prepare individuals for ministerial roles, better preparation of Oppositionshadow teams for office, allocating ministerial portfolios more objectively, introducing performance reviews for

ministers and widening the pool from which ministers are drawn. The outcomes of the research have led to the

creation of a toolkit for ministers which is currently being trialled. There is an ongoing dialogue with ministers

around the reports' themes.

The Institute has been proactively engaged in the work on the transformation of Whitehall Boards working with lead

non-executive directors. We have undertaken research into the behaviours of Public Sector Boards and what was

needed to ensure that the newly refocused Boards secured

maximum effectiveness. The programme of activity continues....

Work has commenced to review the functioning of the Opposition in holding the government to account andpreparing to be a future government, including policy making, leadership and development.....

Parliament and the political process

Our work on minority and coalition government influenced important actors both before and after polling day. Our

main recommendations were set out in the report Making Minority Government Work, which former Cabinet

Secretary Lord Turnbull said was a remarkable [report]in the depth of its insights and in its timeliness. The central

message was that a hung parliament need not cause serious problems so long as there was understanding of basic

constitutional conventions about how a government is formed and who is in charge during the transition process.

The Institute worked with media commentators, leading to these themes were picked up widely in the immediate

post election coverage.

Our recommendation that the UK should develop a Cabinet Manual (drawing on the New Zealand

Model studied in the report) was subsequently accepted by the Cabinet Secretary.....

Following the formation of the Coalition Government in May 2010, the Institute continued its pre-election research

into the implications of a hung parliament, studying the operation of the coalition in its first few months. Between

May and July, we organised a series of seminars with UK and international speakers looking at different aspects of

coalition government such as the role of the civil service, the politicians' perspective and the impact on parliament.

In September we followed up with a short report United We Stand? Coalition government in theUK. This explored

the nature of the governance challenges facing the coalition and made some recommendations for change. Our

proposals were picked up in various media. We also presented the findings directly to the Cabinet Secretary and

other senior officials. Subsequently, a number of our recommendations have been taken up, including that thereshould be a stronger private office and dedicated website for the Deputy Prime Minister and a review of the

Programme for Government.


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The Institute's work on the role of Parliament in the public appointments process culminated in a report published in

March 2011, in which we set out a package of recommendations for reform. The report was launched at an event at

which Andrew Tyrie, Chair of the Treasury Select Committee,

endorsed a number of the themes of the Institute's report (following close collaboration between the Institute and

Mr Tyrie beforehand).The respondent, Jack Straw, was equally supportive. The report received considerable media

coverage, including on the Today Programme, BBC Parliament, the Financial Times and the Guardian.

A year on from the MPs expenses crisis, the Institute published an assessment of the state of the House of

Commons administration.

Future Plans

...looking at new models of governance and delivering public services...


The Institute has produced high-quality research reports and analysis that are independent of government, political

parties, individual clients or companies.....

the reports will, provide..evidence...equipping the public with knowledge and information on ...the training of its

current and future ministers.

Documents

243. Institute for Government Annual Reports 2009, 2010, 2011, Excerpts