Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 1
1
Accepted
Paragraph: 14
Cabinet Office understanding of external People Survey data users' needs remains inadequate
Conclusion
When first launched, the People Survey was intended as a tool to support government departments and agencies in embedding and improving employee engagement. However, the data that have emerged from the survey have revealed themselves to be crucial to a much broader audience: to Parliamentarians, researchers and academics, and trade union representatives. While the Cabinet Office appears to have a strong understanding of the needs of internal users of the data, the same cannot yet be said for external users of People Survey data.
Government response summary AI-generated
The Cabinet Office accepts the recommendation, committing to consider wider engagement of external stakeholders, include consultees in future technical guides, and implement a user engagement strategy.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
14
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
Recommendation: The Cabinet Office should expand its annual engagement with users of the People Survey, to ensure that the needs of external stakeholders are well understood and used to support the development of future survey questionnaires. A summary of this engagement should be included within the technical guide that is published alongside final results each year. (Paragraph 15). On an annual basis, the Cabinet Office team that manages the People Survey on behalf of the 100+ participating organisations engages with a range of internal and external stakeholders. Internally this includes HR Directors from across participating departments, as well as policy leads, organisations survey managers, cross-government networks, and actual respondents to the survey to ensure that its content meets current policy priorities and users’ needs. Externally we engage with international peers via the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) surveys group, academics, and other public sector organisations such as NHS England, to share best practices and modern methods of gathering employee insights and improving engagement. We also engage with trade union representatives. The Cabinet Office accepts this recommendation and will consider wider engagement of external stakeholders, including with leading private sector organisations, as part of our work to review the Civil Service People Survey questionnaire going forward. A list of consultees will be included in future technical guides published on GOV.UK. The Cabinet Office will also work with colleagues to implement a user engagement strategy that builds on best practice drawing on examples from across the Government Statistical Service and elsewhere.
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