Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Accepted
Monitor effectiveness of ODP strategy in building capabilities for better government services.
Conclusion
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.
Government Response Summary
The Profession will carefully measure the impact of its products and services, developing specific metrics to monitor progress against its strategy. Initial measures will be baselined by September 2026 and continuously monitored throughout the strategy's lifecycle.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Profession agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. capability and enhance government services. While the Profession recognises the inherent challenge of evidencing a direct causal relationship between ODP activities and outcomes for citizens, it will seek to carefully measure the impact of all ODP products and services. Central to the strategy is the ODP Professional Skills Framework (PSF), which provides departments with a consistent foundation for building capability, outlining the skills required for each ODP job family at every grade and link to relevant learning solutions. The Profession regularly reviews the learning curriculum, qualifications, and development programmes to ensure alignment with both the PSF, and emerging and future skill demands to enable effective delivery to citizens. The Profession is developing metrics to monitor progress against the strategy; initial measures will be baselined by September 2026 and monitored throughout the strategy’s lifecycle. As the strategy matures additional measures will be incorporated to reflect the evolution of the strategy. The Profession will work with cross-government partners and consider academic and other sources in identifying measures which can reflect the impact and effectiveness of profession deliverables, including both quantitative data and qualitative insight. The profession will consider a range of measures and indicators including cost avoidance, acknowledging that in providing products and services centrally this reduces duplication and inefficiency in departments procuring individually, thereby reducing cost to government. The Profession is also currently developing common methodologies to measure operational delivery outcomes, enabling benchmarking, collaboration, and shared learning across organisations, while respecting individual departmental contexts. This work will facilitate greater understanding of service delivery performance and, subject to Cabinet Office endorsement, will assist Cabinet Office in holding departments to account on delivery of government services.