We were also lucky enough to be able to attend the morning presentations, which included a fascinating paper by Sir Michael Bichard, the co-author of The Operational Efficiency Programme. He pointed out that the sheer scale of government debt was such that a standard approach - looking for cost efficiencies, increasing productivity, cost reduction etc on a departmental/silo’d basis - would be insufficient to deal with the problem, and emphasised that we will need to focus on how we can address the financial crisis by better use of data and information.
One interesting comment was that the public sector very rarely changes the way that services are delivered - but simply increases or decreases the number of people delivering these services according to the funding available. I suspect that it’s not only the public sector that adopts this approach; although it is true that the private sector has taken a more innovative approach to delivering services (for example, outsourcing and offshoring) there is still a strong desire in many organisations (and within their customer bases) to maintain the status quo.
Sir Michael had seven recommendations for ensuring the better use of data and information:
1. Strong leadership to set direction and create and sustain a sense of purpose and high levels of motivation and energy. He emphasised the need for honest communication and reminded us that increasing resources does not always equate to increasing quality.
2. Reducing costs as set out in The Operational Efficiency Programme through better collaboration across the public sector and the development of better management information. He cited procurement as a good example of where there are huge opportunities to reduce costs through the better use of management information and benchmarking data.
3. Engage the front line - Front line staff often have the knowledge and experience to provide powerful solutions to problems but all too often their views are not sought. He used the example of a joint Design Council, Department of Health and NHS initiative, ‘Design bugs out’, where input from nursing staff proved invaluable and constructive.
4. Increased collaboration - the public sector is currently working in silos which leads to waste, inconsistent processes, and a failure to share information responsibly (Sir Michael chaired the Soham enquiry.) However, there is also a recognition that the public mistrusts the government’s ability to handle data securely and needs to regain public confidence in order to gain acceptance of cross-departmental data and information sharing.
5. Real time information - the evaluation of the impact of new policies and initiatives needs to be in real time in order to establish whether they are successful. A process for collecting management information should be integrated into the design of new policies in order to allow for fast adjustments where necessary.
6. Co-production - make better use of the resources available by working with the users of public services to develop and deliver better, more cost-effective services.
7. Devolution - it is not possible to impose efficiency from the centre. Local providers do need to accountable for the services they provide but without having to comply with unhelpful targets - good data and information management is needed to support the delivery of devolved services.He also emphasised the need to get more widespread recognition of the value of good data and information at senior levels; the importance of generating data and information as a by product of normal business processes (rather than as a separate information-gathering activity); and the need to encourage public debate about the sharing of data in order to surface and address concerns over privacy and the lack of trust that currently exist.
Sir Michael closed with the following comment, which I would heartily endorse:
‘Data, information and knowledge has been a minority sport, and that needs to change’.
Melanie Goody
Senior Associate
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