Since COVID19 there has been huge criticism in the media of Boris Johnson's 8 month old Government but little if any criticism of the apparatus of Government, the Civil Service and other Government agencies.
Ofqual is the current example of failure. It is established by law as a non-ministerial department for which direct political oversight has been judged unnecessary. The failure of Ofqual was to look at the Higher's (A Level) awards disaster in Scotland and then permit almost the same incompetent shambles to happen in England. This was an epic level of incompetence.
Public Health England (PHE) is another example. At the outbreak of the COVID19 epidemic in February and March they repeatedly stated that international arrivals were not a significant risk. Millions of people arrived in the UK in February and March bringing at least 20,000 cases of COVID19 and infecting at least 60,000 more people. The seriousness of the UK COVID19 epidemic was directly related to this huge priming from overseas (as PHE admitted later).
On migration the Home Office and Border Force have failed miserably.
The failures of government agencies are apparent in all directions. Ofcom fails to fairly regulate communications contracts and fails to prevent BBC bias, the HMRC demands on-line submission of tax returns yet has only the most basic system on-line for submitting data, the Passport Office frequently has huge queues, the NHS is surprised every winter by seasonal illness.
So what is going wrong? Here is a short list of what senior management should be checking but it is kid's stuff, the problem is deeper:
- What could go wrong?
- How is this done elsewhere/previously?
- Who has clear responsibility?
- Are there clear rewards for success and sanctions for failure?
- Are there reporting points/spot checks?
- Is the work within available resource and finance?
- Has a rapidly implemented prototype/pilot study been tried?
- What are the back up plans?
The breadth of the failure shows that it is the very top level of the Civil Service that is faulty. The Cabinet Secretary and the Permanent Secretaries Management Group have failed. The overall management of an amorphous, huge organisation requires special techniques.
Large Commercial Corporations use a heterogeneous structure so that rotten limbs can be pruned from the organisation and successful parts expanded. Military organisations have exercises, often pitting one part of the organisation against another. The Civil Service can learn from this methodology.
As an example the HMRC might be divided into three parallel branches for Personal Tax collection with equally remunerative geographical and functional zones of responsibility. It is then possible to dismiss entire management teams if a branch underperforms. Most Corporate workers will recognise this technique, perhaps with a cold sweat as they think about it. The same could be done in most Departments.
Spot checks prevent senior managers from substituting spin and cover up for performance. Spot checks are the equivalent of the boss walking the factory or office floor in a medium sized enterprise. The key to the success of spot checks is that they are unannounced. Unions and professional organisations resist spot checks as far as they possibly can and they usually succeed in derailing spot checks by insisting that they are given warning. However, there is no other way of truly assessing an organisation than the unannounced spot check. Spot checks should simultaneously swoop without warning on a whole branch of activity from middle management to the shop floor. (Obviously the audit team would secretly do their homework so that they chose representative days in the year etc and swooped more than once).
The Cabinet Office must investigate, poke and prod the Civil Service, Police and NHS etc. all the time and have the authority to do this. It might follow ten equivalent planning applications in ten different parts of the country, in the NHS it might follow a hundred patients through the system or a hundred doctors. It should hire dinghies and land at ten points around the UK to test the Border Force, fly five executive jets into UK air space to test the RAF, follow a hundred benefit applications, a hundred Corporation Tax Returns etc., phone "phone lines" etc. Bias in employment practices would be investigated, political bias as well as racial, sexual etc. Undercover employees might also be used, for instance they could perform fake robberies to test the police. Occasional, unannounced military style exercises might be implemented so that the response of the Bank of England, DfE, NHS etc to epidemics, slumps, war etc. can be probed. Having found poor performance the senior managers who are responsible must be sacked or relieved.
Committees are no way to manage. They are mostly a method of avoiding responsibility and action. We all know this. Departmental heads should visit section heads to find out what is actually happening, divisional managers should walk the office floor occasionally - at least weekly - and take an interest in the work. Simply asking junior managers into a conference room to report on progress is unacceptable and lazy. Excessive hours spent by junior managers and staff in committees should be a black mark against senior management.
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| Committees: A place to pose |
In technical work a Consular system at the Departmental level should be used wherever possible. This would involve two managers, one for resources, scheduling and staff affairs etc. and one for the technical work.
Commercial Management Consultancies must never be used. They are mercenaries and simply support the views of those who pay them.
The Civil Service is often confused about the law. When new departments and agencies are established by Act of Parliament a clear description of the responsibilities of the Department and the boundaries between the Department and others should be produced. Overlap with other Departments and communications paths (not joint committees) should be clarified. In the COVID19 epidemic there seems to be evidence that PHE was unaware of other Government and Local Authority organisations with responsibility for epidemics.
The Civil Service is a near monopoly consumer in many areas of the economy. It has a responsibility to ensure that strategic industries are preserved in the UK and that small and medium sized private enterprises in the UK are allowed to compete for purchases. UK producers should always be preferred suppliers.
Lastly, all efficient organisations need "Slack". Slack is a technical term for surplus resources and diversity of operations that cover unforeseen contingencies. Without Slack the most efficient organisations are just awaiting disaster.
See The Lazy Civil Servant which is essential reading for anyone wishing to knock the Civil Service into shape.
17/8/2020
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