Recommendation 6

Only a few of the fourteen functions have been able to demonstrate the benefits of their activities. Most functions have not been able to quantify their costs and benefits. The Cabinet Office admits there are difficulties measuring the impact of some functions, such as the HR function. Progress has been made in some areas: the Commercial function regularly collects data on the cost and benefits of its work and has a mature process for evidencing benefits; and the Digital function has undertaken analysis of the cost savings of moving to inhouse specialists rather than relying on external contractors. The Government Internal Audit Agency is currently working on compiling comparative data on costs and benefits for the functions. When complete this will allow the Cabinet Office to better benchmark functions’ performance and identify best practice. However, the quantification of costs and benefits and the measurement of impact is not yet common practice across the functions. Recommendation: The Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and functions should agree a consistent methodology for measuring costs, benefits and impacts across all functions by July 2021 and report to the Committee on functions’ performance. 8 Specialist Skills in the civil service 1 Impact of skills shortages in government