External Consultants Guidance

These recommendations can be accepted in full.

They have been addressed through work to date, including:
• job-specific appointments within the NICS generalist grades;
• the piloting of Cabinet Office’s “Commercial Skills Assessment and Development Centre” to evaluate its potential as a mechanism to improve commercial skills across NI Departments;
• the encouragement of senior leaders to access the Cabinet Office / Oxford University Major Projects Leadership Academy (MPLA);
• the introduction of a new portfolio of commercial awareness and skills training for all generalist grades;
• the introduction of a learning and development framework for economists, including commercial awareness.
• assurances sought from Departments that senior managers will, as a matter of course, review the levels of specific expertise required to deliver their business and take appropriate steps to secure the appropriate expertise and manage the associated risks;
• the issue of corporate guidance on managing handovers for incorporation within departmental procedures;

Further work is required to:
• reform the role and sponsorship of the Civil Service Commissioners for NI
• launch and implement talent management products across the NICS;
• Deliver NICS Recruitment Plan - phase 1 & 2
• Match to job roles and appoint further staff via SO/DP recruitment competition
• Agree scope and timeframe for review of NICS recruitment;
• Develop proposals for the review of NICS workforce model (disciplines, occupational groups, professions, job roles, etc)
• Develop terms of reference for the review of NICS approach to professions. To incorporate recommendations arising from NIAO VFM report and PAC report
• Further alignment of NICSHR resources and operations to deliver on NICS corporate HR priorities including resourcing activities for critical posts.
• Ongoing improvement of recruitment and selection processes.
• Incorporation of the sequencing and flexibility of handling staff moves to secure business (alongside the ongoing work on talent management and skills development) into the review of resourcing.
• Progress implementation of new processes and procedures that enable line managers’ capability and confidence in their people-management roles
• extend the work of the Policy Community;
• develop the role of the SRO in ensuring they have the right skills available to them to deliver the policy, including externally-sourced expertise;
• develop the Guidance on the Use of Professional Services including Consultants, including issues of the ‘intelligent customer’ role and the knowledge transfer needed;
• develop the guidance on assessing the need for specialist support within project management / assurance methodologies, in the TEO Guide to Policy Making.

The refreshed guidance will be published by the end of March 2025

The refreshing of the Guidance will be complete by the end of August 2024.

The refresh project will take into account Cabinet Office decision to discontinue spend control on consultancy and professional services from 1st February 2023.

Making a Difference: the NICS Guide to Making Policy that Works was published Feb 2023 An SRO Appointment process is in place across departments.

The SRO Appointment letter advises the SRO of their roles and responsibilities, support and guidance available and mandates specific SRO training.

The DoF Commercial Delivery Group (CDG) provides a 2-day SRO Masterclass provided by externally sourced experts through a collaborative framework arrangement with GB counterparts which SROs are mandated to attend. SROs are also required to complete Cabinet Office SRO training.

CDG reports bi-annually to the NICS Board on the status of Major Programmes and Projects (MPP). Of the current 105 MPPs, 98 SRO appointment letters have been issued with the remainder being drafted by P3Os. CDG continues to work with departmental P3Os to complete the formal SRO appointment process.

A SRO network is established with an event arranged in September 2023.

The recommendation is likely to be fully implemented, based on the planned action, if the guidance developed in response to the planned actions is sufficient and appropriate.