Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 29
29
Accepted
Departments should prioritise internal agility and automation for demand management, with SRRT as a last resort.
Conclusion
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
Government Response Summary
The SRRT holds detailed data and collaborates with workforce planners, ranks requests for SRRT support, and works with departments to share learning to ensure effective workforce planning.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
6. PAC conclusion: 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. 6. PAC 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 Profession agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 6.2 The Surge and Rapid Response Team (SRRT) do hold detailed data and insights on organisations across government, including their internal flexible resourcing processes. It regularly collaborates with workforce planners across government to understand organisations’ current and future demand needs and to inform SRRT workforce planning. In doing so it also helps support organisations in building their operational capability to better manage demand fluctuations to ensure they only seek SRRT support when absolutely needed and after they have exhausted internal options to deal with the demand. 6.3 The team was created in 2015 to provide operational support to departments to deal with variation in demand arising from either planned peaks or unexpected pressures that cannot be resourced internally. Over the last 10 years SRRT have undertaken more than 700 deployments into 65 different government organisations, supporting some of the highest priority resourcing requirements and crises. 6.4 The use of SRRT avoids the need for departments to use more expensive contingent labour options and the added expense of extensive re-skilling. Or alternatively having to build resourcing levels up to meet planned or unplanned peaks of activity leading to oversupply of permanent resource and additional costs. 6.5 Any request for SRRT support is ranked as high, medium or low priority to ensure resource is only targeted to the highest priority areas across government. The criteria were introduced to ensure the most appropriate use of resource and are reviewed on a regular basis. This includes a process to ensure SRRT support is targeted and time-bound, reinforcing that it is not a substitute for other resourcing solutions including permanent resource. 6.6 As part of the overall service offer, SRRT will continue to work with departments, sharing learning from others to ensure that best use is made of civil service resources through effective workforce planning and identification of best value resourcing options to deal with unexpected or peak demand.