“The Cabinet Office’s own assessment is that most government departments are inadequate and don’t have the right capabilities at the right level. I am glad the Cabinet Office is now examining government capability in this way although it must now take the next step and start examining and comparing performance by different government departments systematically.”

“Another key finding is that staff across the Civil Service are unimpressed with senior managers in their departments. For example, in Defra, only 18 per cent of staff agree or strongly agree with the statement ‘the Department as a whole is well managed’. Most departments surveyed reach around 40 per cent satisfaction but even this means that three fifths of civil servants across government do not regard the department they work in as well managed.”

“I welcome this initiative by the Cabinet Secretary to get a better understanding of what is going on across government. Capability reviews are a step in the right direction, but there is still much more to do. It is essential that future work links these reviews to departments’ reported performance. People in this country pay a great deal of money to the government in tax and they are entitled to expect that government will deliver high quality performance in return.”

Mr Bacon was speaking as the National Audit Office published its report into Departmental Capability Reviews. The Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell, launched the Capability Review programme in October 2005.

The programme aims to achieve a step change in the capability of the civil service to meet current and future delivery challenges, to reassure the public and Ministers that the civil service leadership is equipped to develop and deliver departmental strategies and to help departments act on long term key development areas.

Additionally, a staff survey at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) found that only 18 per cent of staff agreed with the statement ‘the Department as a whole is well managed’.

6 February 2009
 

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