CABINET OFFICE News
Release (CAB/072-07) issued by The Government News Network on 14
August 2007
The Cabinet Office
today announced a further two departments undertaking
'Capability Reviews'. These are HM Treasury and HM
Revenue and Customs.
The reviews aim to improve the capability of the Civil Service to
meet today's delivery challenges and to be ready for tomorrow's.
The reviews will consider capability in the Civil Service in
three key areas - leadership, strategy and delivery. Each review
aims to identify where departments need to improve and will
include key actions which will address these areas.
In addition to these two further reviews, the National School of
Government's Sunningdale Institute has been commissioned to
undertake an Evaluation of the programme as a whole, exploring the
process and impact and recommending how it might develop at the
next stage.
The Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell said: 'We are
well underway with the Capability Review programme now, and we
remain determined to develop a world class Civil Service for the
21st century.
'We have already published the findings of 15
departments' reviews. As well as recognising the areas where
departments do well these reviews demonstrated where we need to
improve. The departments are now implementing challenging plans to
address these areas. The Cabinet Office will continue to review
progress and provide support to help ensure departments are on
track to deliver and I expect the Sunningdale Institute's
programme-wide evaluation to inform the future of Capability
Reviews and the next phase of Civil Service reform'.
The review teams have been drawn from the private sector, the
wider public sector and board-level members of other government departments.
HM Treasury's Capability Review will take place after the
Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 and findings of both reviews
announced today will be published this winter.
Note for editors:
1. More information about the Capability Reviews is available at.
http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/capabilityreviews.
2. Each review is carried out by the Capability Reviews Team in
the Cabinet Office with a team of external reviewers.
3. The Capability Reviews for the Department for Constitutional
Affairs, Department for Education and Skills, Home Office and
Department for Work and Pensions, Cabinet Office, Department for
Communities and Local Government and Department for Trade and
Industry, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Ministry of
Defence, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International
Development, Crown Prosecution Service, Department for Transport
and Department of Health have all been published.
4. The Sunningdale Institute is a virtual academy of leading
thinkers on organisation, management and governance offering
practical wisdom on these matters to Government. Fellows of the
Institute are from universities and business schools, think-tanks
and other agencies. They provide a variety of interventions aimed
at helping to improve public service and policy outcomes. The
Sunningdale Institute is part of the National School of
Government. http://www.nationalschool.gov.uk
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