PASC hears from Government Departments on their strategic aims
19 September 2012
In a Report published today, Thursday 20 September 2012, the Public Administration Select Committee has published progress reports on strategic capability from each of the ministerial departments in the Civil Service, and from the NHS.
Correspondence
The Chairman of the Committee, Bernard Jenkin MP, wrote to each Permanent Secretary, and the Chief Executive of the NHS, in April asking for evidence on how their department is building capability in support of both their strategic aims, and the Government’s overall strategic aims.
The responses have been analysed by the Committee’s two Specialist Advisers, Professor Andrew Kakabadse, Professor of International Management Development at Cranfield University School of Management, and Dr Gillian Stamp, Director of the Bioss Foundation. Professor Kakabadse is a consultant and adviser to both the private and the public sector, and is currently embarked on a major £2 million global study of boardroom effectiveness and governance practice. Dr Stamp has worked with the First Civil Service Commission in the development of high-potential civil servants and permanent secretaries, and works with private sector companies both in the UK and internationally.
The Report
The Report builds on PASC’s July 2011 Report Good Governance and Civil Service Reform: ‘End of Term’ report on Whitehall plans for structural reform which examined the reform and corporate change programmes of individual Government departments. The Report also follows PASC’s April 2012 Report Strategic Thinking in Government: Without national strategy, can viable Government strategy emerge? which expressed concern at the absence of national strategy at the centre of Government.
Bernard Jenkin MP, Chair of the Committee, said
"We hope the evaluation of our expert advisers will be of use to the Government in considering strategic capacity across the Civil Service. We believe it has been a valuable exercise to collate information from within Whitehall about how departments present their strategic aims and capability".