WIREDGOV

A new project by the Institute for Government aims to strengthen the lines of accountability between public sector workers, elected officials and the public they serve.

In a report launched yesterday, Accountability in modern government, the IfG says weak accountability increases the risk of failure of public services – whether through financial mismanagement, chronic underperformance or the collapse of services.

The report finds the same patterns of failure repeatedly occurring:

• Ministers and civil servants blame each other with things go wrong, which limits the chances of lessons being learned and mistakes avoided in future. This has affected flagship projects such as the roll-out of Universal Credit and, more recently, the Windrush immigration cases.
• Even when failures are clearly attributable to ministers, many are not held to account for their decisions. Ministers responsible for the Metronet contracts or the outsourcing of probation services were never called to explain why they opted for risky, and ultimately wasteful approaches.
• Poor contract management can often result in wider public services failures, from the millions of pounds lost in the overbilling for prisoner electronic tagging to the problems with benefit assessments. The recent collapse of Carillion highlights the importance of tackling these problems systematically.

The report argues that the UK’s system of accountability isn’t keeping up with the realities of modern government. This leads to repeated failures which harm the public and undermine trust in institutions. Tragedies like the Grenfell Tower fire provoke questions about who should be held to account.

At the same time, the report says there is a tendency to overemphasise blame when something goes wrong. This creates a high-stakes environment, where a perceived slip-up can end a career. Instead of frank conversations about what would be needed to improve the situation, the tendency is to obscure the facts.

Benoit Guerin at the Institute for Government, said:

“Accountability helps people know how the Government is doing and where to go when things go wrong. A lack of accountability is worrying because it increases the risk of failure and decreases legitimacy of the state in the eyes of the public.

“With this project, we want to start a debate about how accountability in the public sector could be strengthened with the aim of making recommendations for reform. We welcome contributions from those interested in, and concerned about, the state of accountability in the UK.”

Notes to editors

• The full report is available online.
• The Institute for Government is an independent think tank that works to make government more effective.
• This paper forms the basis for a discussion with those people concerned about the state of accountability in the UK. Over the coming months, in consultation with others, we want to test and develop our ideas to form specific recommendations. We will publish a final report setting out what we have learned and what we recommend later in 2018. To comment, please email: accountability@instituteforgovernment.org.uk
• For more information, please contact nicole@instituteforgovernment.org.uk / 0785 031 3791.

Associated projects: 

• Accountability in modern government 

Associated documents:  

• Accountability in modern government: what are the issues?