Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Recent events have shown up the limitations in government’s forward planning capability when put into...
Conclusion
Recent events have shown up the limitations in government’s forward planning capability when put into practice. Ministers specifically limited the amount of contingency planning the civil service was expected to carry out ahead of the EU Exit referendum in 2016.27 While the Cabinet Office felt that was a reasonable position for ministers to take, it admitted that this decision had led to a delay on negotiating positions and preparations as government had to take time after the referendum to formulate policy and determine what type of agreement they wanted to have with the EU, at time when the speed of the response was critical.28 The Cabinet Office said that it had done work during the most recent election to prepare based on party manifestos, acknowledging that the civil service sometimes has a role which does not depend on ministerial input.29 While the Cabinet Office was not aware of any other areas where the civil service has asked to carry out planning work and has been told it cannot, we are sceptical that this provides any assurance that such an issue may not later come to light.30
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
5.1 The government agrees with this recommendation. Recommendation implemented 5.2 The government regularly conducts scenario-based exercises to ensure robust plans and appropriate capabilities are in place to respond to events, mitigate impacts and ensure the continuity of public services. 5.3 The work led by the Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS) is driven by a systematic assessment of risk, using cross-government, medium term tools such as the National Security Risk Assessment and formalised short-term risk assessment processes to deal with emerging events. This delivers consistency and authority. 5.4 CCS works closely with all government departments and agencies, under the Lead Government Department principle, to ensure this risk assessment translates into plans and actions to mitigate or prepare to deal with disruptive challenges. 5.5 From December 2020, CCS will be supplemented with an enhanced multi-agency Command, Control and Coordination (C3) system, to coordinate the most disruptive challenges across the system; working alongside the EU Exit and COVID-19 secretariats to make sure key decisions and topics are coordinated, and possible synergies and crossovers highlighted. 5.6 This approach reflects the lessons and experience from previous events, including COVID-19 and previous Brexit-related planning. 5.7 This C3 structure will provide the government with clear situational awareness which will be used to monitor and track whether disruptive challenges are beginning to manifest. 5.8 These structures will increase CCS’s capacity to respond robustly to events, ensure that risks are viewed holistically and create easier data flows across the department and wider system. Lessons and improvements will be permanently incorporated into enduring crisis management arrangements.