Smarter delivery of public services

There are examples of innovation happening across government but more needs to be done to harness the ideas of the 290,000 members of the ODP for improving service delivery. There are 23 examples of innovation in the NAO’s report, which show it is possible for teams working across government to continuously improve and be innovative–even in adverse circumstances where operational delivery is highly challenging. The transformative changes needed by government will require both large scale projects and day-to-day incremental improvements involving front- line staff. This requires a working environment that encourages openness, innovation, and challenge of current thinking, with senior leaders who 3 see failure as an opportunity to learn rather than an exercise in sharing out blame. It is important to build ways of working that allow ideas to flow and give people time outside of their day job–for example, HM Passport Office says that its Quality Framework project has involved training around 1,000 people to identify issues and raise them. But considering there are 290,000 members of the ODP, the innovative potential is enormous. recommendation The ODP should require all its Departmental Heads of Profession to set out how they will ensure that their staff have the time, skills, tools and support to raise ideas, learn from each other, and get involved with improving services.

The ODP is not doing enough to join up with the wider public sector, including local government, which plays a large part in the delivery of public services, or with the private sector. The ODP’s focus is on the 290,000 members in the Civil Service and not on the capability of operational delivery professionals in the wider public sector, for example in local authorities. However, many government objectives involve both central and local government—for example, the delivery of planning services—and a lack of join up will hinder their effective delivery. The ODP described the benefits of building networks and told us how it has invited a small number of mayoral authority staff to its learning events. However, there is untapped potential for central and local government to more routinely learn from each other and to collaborate on building capability. For example, the skills framework the ODP has created would be relevant to local authority staff. Further, the ODP helps its members build career paths by highlighting roles in other government organisations to its members, but there is no visibility of opportunities across the local and central government divide. There is further potential to join up more with the private sector, which is not only involved in the end-to-end delivery of public services but is also a potential source of innovative ideas for how to improve them. recommendation The ODP should set out how it will encourage innovation and join up delivery between: • central government and local government, by more routinely placing members in local government roles, using its capability development and learning offers to facilitate better connections, providing career paths, and sharing learning; and • central government and the private sector through facilitating two-way secondment opportunities and knowledge sharing. 4

There are gaps in core operational delivery capabilities in government organisations which impact on the cost and quality of services it delivers. Operational capability across government is varied and weaknesses have real consequences for citizens. For example, where a department lacks the capability to understand and deal with demand, the result is backlogs in government services. Where a department does not focus on systematic and continuous improvement, pain points for customers are not identified and addressed. Where organisations fail to consider systems as a whole, and work in silos only focusing on their own part of the process, they may just move demand and the cost of dealing with it to another part of government. The ODP acknowledges the criticality of improving capability across government, and its approach to doing so includes interventions such as a skills framework for generic operational capabilities, apprenticeship schemes, and targeted training for senior leaders. The ODP’s goal is that all its interventions deliver measurable returns on investment, and it has built data expertise and is gathering baseline data so it can measure improvement. The ODP’s understanding of whether its approach is effectively building the right capabilities will be crucial to delivering better services. recommendation The ODP should monitor how effectively the approach set out in its strategy is building the capabilities that are needed to deliver improvements to the cost and quality of government services.

It is vital that the ODP keeps pace with advances in new technology and artificial intelligence and the implications for the changing skills its members need. The ODP has created a skills framework, which sets out the skills that staff need at different stages of their careers. However, the capabilities and expertise that its members need are changing and will require skills associated with other professions, particularly digital–for example, the capability to provide services online or via apps, and through using artificial intelligence. Automating straightforward types of demand means that staff can spend their time dealing with customers with more complex needs, or who cannot access digital services. There are examples of organisations using technology and artificial intelligence in ways that have made services easier to use and better for citizens, and that have reduced the amount of demand its staff need to service. For example, the Child Maintenance Service is using an artificial intelligence tool to identify payment arrangements which are most at risk of breaking down. If the ODP’s members have opportunities to develop the skills they need in this changing environment, then more examples of innovative and effective digital services should follow. 5 recommendation The ODP should work with the Government Digital and Data Profession to define the digital skills that ODP professionals require, and include them in the new skills framework, to support government organisations to navigate the impact of new technology and artificial intelligence and adopt it to deliver better services.

The Surge and Rapid Response Team (SRRT) is a valuable resource but should be there for genuine need and not as a containment for the lack of operational capability needed to deal with demand that should have been predicted or absorbed. The capability to understand and deal with demand is a key priority for government organisations. The ODP is responsible for the SRRT, which helps departments deal with significant increases in demand, including seasonal peaks such as Winter Fuel payments, as well as those caused by emerging crises, such as the collapse of an airline. A benefit of using the SRRT is that its staff can be deployed immediately–for example, they are already security cleared and have contracts allowing them to be deployed nationally and internationally at short notice. Whereas recruiting staff or using a third party could be more time consuming and costly. The SRRT is clearly a valuable resource, and there are many examples of its successful deployment, but departments should not be repeatedly using the SRRT for peaks in demand that ought to have been foreseen and planned for, or which could have been absorbed in other ways. recommendation The ODP should conduct analysis of who is using the SRRT and why they are using it to identify where they need to work with departments to increase their operational capability to better deal with variation in demand. 6 1 The role of the Operational Delivery Profession and its members Introduction

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the UK civil service’s ‘Operational Delivery Profession’ (ODP), and two of its departmental Heads of Profession, on how it is helping departments build the capabilities needed to deliver smarter services.1

We asked why operational capability is so important for government. The ODP told us about the important roles its members have in serving citizens, such as in jobcentres, the Passport Office and dealing with planning applications. The ODP explained that the getting the right capability at all levels, from front line staff to senior leaders, was the first stage along the way towards outstanding public services.10 Departmental Heads of Profession from the Home Office and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) provided examples of how the ODP was supporting them to deliver services, such as by providing capability frameworks and training courses for them and their staff.11

We asked about the status and profile of the Profession, observing that it was the first time the Head of ODP had appeared before the Committee in this capacity, and that the ODP seemed to have a very low profile. We queried whether, given the important role that the ODP plays and the successes it is achieving, it is telling the public enough about what it is doing. ODP told us it wanted the successes in terms of better customer service to the public to speak for themselves but took the point that it could do more to shout about them.12

We asked about whether better visibility could encourage more young people to join the Profession. The ODP agreed that it should be talking more about the career opportunities that are available, such as through the Operational Delivery Fast Stream programme for graduates.13 The role of the ODP’s members in improving services

There are 23 examples of innovation in the NAO’s report, which show it is possible for teams working across government to continuously improve and be innovative–even in adverse circumstances where operational delivery is highly challenging.14 Ensuing that everyone can contribute will ensure that government’s understanding of its problems and ideas on improving are informed by a diversity of knowledge, experience and perspectives from people in different roles.15 10 Q 4 11 Q 16 12 Qq 17-18, 69 13 Qq 67, 69 14 C&AG’s Report, para 1.1 15 C&AG’s Report, Lesson D.3 9

Witnesses told us that the transformative changes needed by government will require both large scale projects and day-to-day incremental improvements involving front-line staff.16 We asked how departments will remove the barriers to innovation by creating a working environment that encourages challenge of current thinking. The ODP described the importance of seeing failure as an opportunity to learn rather than share blame, and creating a sense of empowerment and creativity. We were told about how ideas generated from right across DWP were key to it dealing with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.17

The Departmental Head of Profession for the Home Office told us about the need to build structures that allow ideas to flow and give people time outside of their day job. He told us about HM Passport Office’s continuous improvement team and their role in addressing pain points for customers. He also told us about their Quality Framework which trained around 1,000 people to identify issues and raise them.18 We also heard about how the ODP’s Centre of Excellence, which launched in March, will give people the ability to share ideas not just across their organisations, but across the whole profession.19 The wider operational delivery workforce

The ODP’s focus is on its 290,000 members in the Civil Service. These members work within central government organisations or arm-length bodies within those organisations. Around 80% of ODP members work in just five government departments: the Ministry of Justice, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Home Office, HM Revenue and Customs and the Ministry of Defence.20

We asked about the importance of taking a whole system approach to service delivery. The Departmental Head of Profession for the Home Office described how his organisation has to work closely with four private sector partners to ensure the end-to-end process always delivers what is best for the customer.21 The Departmental Head of Profession for MHCLG went into more detail about the importance of his organisation joining up with local authorities in order to deliver effective planning services, describing how local government is a key part of the end-to-end service that the public experience.22 16 Q 46 17 Q 44 18 Q 56 19 Q 57 20 C&AG’s Report, paras 2.3-2.4 21 Q 29 22 Qq 29- 31, 38 10

We asked several questions which explored how the ODP works with local government, given that local authority staff are not its members. The Departmental Head of Profession for the Home Office described some of the challenges created by the very different operating models, environments and customer sets across the country.23 The ODP told us about some approaches DWP has used to bring together the capacity and capability of central and local government in some areas, including trailblazer schemes to work with mayoral authorities to address the challenge of young people who are not in education, employment or training.24

The ODP also told us how it had invited two senior leaders from mayoral authorities to join the latest cohort of ODP Excel, a learning programme to improve participants readiness for senior operational delivery role, and attend its training events.25 However, the ODP recognised that there was scope for it to go further in building capability more broadly across central government into local government.26 For example, the skills framework and job families it has created for central government would also have relevance to local authority staff.27 Also, while the ODP highlights opportunities for career progression to its members, this does not extend to opportunities that may exist within local government.28 Witnesses recognised the benefits of existing efforts to build networks with local government, and we observed that more routine placing of ODP members into more local and particularly mayoral authorities would strengthen this, for example by providing forums to discuss issues.29

We asked about how well connected ODP was to the private sector. The ODP told us that there were opportunities to learn from the private sector about how to innovate in the delivery of public services, and said its Senior Community of Practice events enable the ODP to draw on insights and challenge from private sector thought leaders.30 The Head of ODP also reflected on the value he had personally got out of a private sector secondment in terms of learning about different ways of working, as well as on the potential for more such interplay.31 23 Q 42 24 Qq 33, 39, 41 25 Qq 32, 37; C&AG’s Report, Figure 5 26 Qq 37, 42 27 Q 42 28 Qq 36, 42, 61, 63 29 Qq 32-33, 43 30 Q 54 31 Q 64 11 2 Improving government’s operational capability Building the right capabilities

Operational capability across government is varied and often lacking in what matters most.32 Weaknesses in operational capability can have real consequences for citizens. For example, where a department lacks the capability to understand and deal with demand, the result is backlogs in government services.33 Where a department does not focus on systematic and continuous improvement, pain points for customers are not identified and addressed.34 Where organisations fail to consider systems as a whole, and work in silos only focusing on their own part of the process, they may just move demand and the cost of dealing with it to another part of government.35

The ODP acknowledged that improving capability across government is crucial to delivering better services.36 Its approach to doing so, as set out in its strategy for 2025–28, includes interventions such as a professional skills framework for generic operational capabilities, apprenticeship schemes, qualifications, and targeted training for senior leaders.37

We asked how the ODP will know if this approach has been successful. The ODP told us that while it believed that investing in capability would deliver better customer service, and that customer satisfaction is a good measure, demonstrating causality was more challenging. The ODP is looking at developing metrics that would enable it to make a connection between its interventions and service outcomes, but it says that they are still some way off achieving that.38 32 C&AG’s Report, para 7 33 Q 7; National Audit Office, Improving services - understanding and managing demand, February 2023, p 1 34 Q 56; National Audit Office, Improving services - systematic improvement, February 2023, p 1 35 Q 30; C&AG, Lessons learned: a planning and spending framework that enables long-term value for money, October 2024, para 2.4 36 Q 49 37 Q 58; C&AG’s Report, Figure 5 38 Qq 48-49, 52-53, 60 12

We heard about the ODP’s progress in building its data expertise, gathering baseline data and creating data dashboards for particular programmes. The ODP also described how a new maturity matrix will help it measure the influence it is having within particular organisations, and how new common methodologies will be created to help monitor performance in certain areas.39 Baseline data is important as it will enable the profession and other exterior organisations such as the NAO and PAC to be able to quantify progress. Keeping pace with advances in new technology

The ODP has created a professional skills framework, which sets out the sorts of skills that staff need at different stages of their careers.40 It feels that this framework will be critical to the success of its strategy.41 However, the capabilities and expertise that its members need are changing and will require skills associated with other professions, particularly digital– for example, the capability to provide services online or via apps, and through using artificial intelligence (AI).42

Improved digital capability can lead to reduced costs and better services for users. For example, automating straightforward types of demand can increase efficiency, and also enable operational delivery staff to spend more time dealing with customers with more complex needs, or who cannot access digital services.43 There are examples in the NAO report of organisations using technology and AI in ways that have made services easy to use for citizens, and that have reduced the level of demand its staff need to service.44 However, written evidence from the Social Market Foundation suggests that public sector adoption of AI is still nascent and uneven, citing a skills shortfall as one of the barriers to progress.45

We asked about the scope for government to make greater use of artificial intelligence to improve services. The ODP told us that there were numerous examples of individual departments using artificial intelligence in different ways. It told us about a particular example in DWP, where the 39 Qq 15, 50, 58 40 C&AG’s Report, para 2.16 41 C&AG’s Report, para 2.24 42 C&AG’s Report, paras 6 and 2.18 43 C&AG’s Report, Lesson B.3; Q6 44 C&AG’s Report, Case examples B.2.3, B.5.1-B.5.2, D.1.1-D.1.2 45 Social Market Foundation (GCS0010) 13 Child Maintenance Service is using artificial intelligence to identify payment arrangements which are at most risk of breaking down, so that staff can intervene proactively to prevent it happening.46

Witnesses described the importance of bringing together operational and digital capabilities–for example, by doing work to make a process efficient before bringing in digital tools, such as AI.47 The ODP also described how it was working with the Government Digital Service (GDS) to facilitate this, both in terms of helping with access to digital tools as well as enabling it to learn about the best examples of digital service delivery.48 Understanding and managing changes in demand

Government needs to know that its services can adapt to peaks and troughs in demand and still meet user expectations. It is important to have the resilience to meet expected variations in demand as well as to respond to unexpected changes in demand. If organisations do not have this capability, service users experience delays and backlogs, often with significant consequences for them.49 The ODP is responsible for the Surge and Rapid Response Team (SRRT), a flexible workforce which departments can use to help them deal with demand. In 2024, this team supported 75 deployments across government.50

We asked about how departments were making use of the SRRT. The ODP explained how the SRRT helps to deal with seasonal peaks in demand, such as Winter Fuel payments, as well as with emerging crises, such as the collapse of an airline, prioritised based on greatest need.51 Further examples of deployments mentioned by witnesses included dealing with passport application backlogs, processing Ukrainian visas, and assisting with the evacuation of Afghanistan.52

We were told by the Departmental Head of Profession for the Home Office that a benefit of using the SRRT is that its staff can start straight away–for example, they are already security cleared, and can move around the world at short notice.53 We were also told that recruiting staff or buying in staff from outsourced suppliers could be more time consuming, more costly and 46 Q 47 47 Qq 8, 30, 47 48 Q 47 49 C&AG’s Report, Lesson B.1 50 C&AG’s Report, para 2.12 51 Qq 19, 21-22 52 Qq 16, 22 53 Qq 22, 24 14 may not deliver the same quality of staff.54 Witnesses reserved particular praise for SRRT staff, describing them as well trained, highly motivated and quick to adapt to new roles.55

The ODP told us that the seasonality in demand in some departments meant that they would be repeatedly using SRRT.56 We asked about whether departments were in fact using SRRT as a “get-out” clause, building it into their capability plans, rather than becoming more agile at dealing with their own demand. The ODP acknowledged that departments should be better at dealing with peaks and troughs in demand and described a number of ways this could be done, such as by trying to reduce fluctuations, building in more flexibility internally, or using automation. The ODP said that using the SRRT should therefore be a last resort, but that sharing resource in this way was still an effective and good value way of meeting the demand.57 54 Qq 19, 23-24 55 Qq 16, 19, 22, 24 56 Q 22 57 Qq 26-28 15