Prime Minister s Strategy Unit THE UK STRATEGY UNIT

Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit THE UK STRATEGY UNIT AND ITS ROLE IN IMPROVING STRATEGIC CAPABILITY ACROSS GOVERNMENT Dr Patricia Greer November 2005

Contents • The UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit • roles • distinctive features • outputs, outcomes and impacts • emerging clusters of work • Strategic Audit and Horizon Scanning • Improving Strategic capability across government – the SU survival guide 2

Contents F The UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit • roles • distinctive features • outputs, outcomes and impacts • emerging clusters of work • Strategic Audit and Horizon Scanning • Improving Strategic capability across government – the SU survival guide 3

The Strategy Unit: origins and reporting line • formed in 2002 (but predecessor Units date back to 1998) to: • improve the Government’s capacity to address long term and/or cross-cutting strategic issues • promote innovation in policy development and the delivery of the Government’s objectives • based in the Cabinet Office but reports to the Prime Minister who takes final decisions about work undertaken by the Unit 4

The SU’s work has gone through three phases of evolution Phase 1 1998 -2000 Cross-cutting policy projects, identified by consultations with departments and No 10 Usually public For example: E-commerce Future of the Post Office Role and regulation of charities Rural economies Analysis in government Phase 2 2000 -2004 Phase 3 2005 - Some public, some private Shorter term projects linked to specific policy announcements. Identified by the PM and No 10 Commissioning Board For example All private Health For example Education Schools Transport Primary care Drugs Respect Long term strategy studies, identified by SU and No 10 Energy 5

Strategy Unit: where we fit in No 10 Cabinet Office Prime Minister: John Hutton (Elected politician) Perm Sec: Gus O’Donnell (Civil Servant) Cabinet Secretary: Colin Balmer (Civil Servant) Policy Directorate David Bennett SU Commissioning Board Chair: Members: Gus O'Donnell, Ivan Rogers, Matthew Taylor, John Mc. Ternan, Lord Birt, Paul Britton, Nikhil Rathi, David Bennett, Stephen Aldridge Strategy Unit Senior Management Team Stephen Aldridge Acting Director Patricia Greer Deputy Director Central Team Strategy Hub Projects 23 Management Units Intelligence and Security Secretariat Civil Contingencies Secretariat Government Communications European Secretariat Overseas and Defence Secretariat Economic and Domestic Secretariat Ceremonial Secretariat Propriety and Ethics Corporate Development Group Strategy Unit Delivery Unit Head of e-Government Office of Public Services Reform Better Regulation Executive OGC Chief Government Social Researcher Communications Business Development Finance HR Infrastructure Internal Audit Histories, Openness and Records Unit 6

The Strategy Unit: roles • to carry out strategic reviews and cross-cutting studies of major policy areas and provide policy advice in accordance with the PM’s policy priorities • to work with departments to promote strategic thinking and improve policy making across central government • to conduct occasional strategic audits • as departments have progressively built their own strategic capability so the work of the SU has increasingly focused on cross-cutting issues, advice to the PM and support for departments 7

The Strategy Unit: work is increasingly organised around five key clusters Public Service Reform Strategic Capability SMT Opportunity & Welfare Reform Central team Government & Trust Economy & Infrastructure SMT = Senior Management team 8

The Strategy Unit: these clusters cover the Prime Minister’s domestic policy priorities Public service Economy and Opportunity reform infrastructure and welfare Governance and trust Strategic capability Dentistry Energy Schools reform Transport Respect & Housing & ASB planning Serious & organised crime, and drugs NHS reform Local Govt Strategy Unit as Centre of Excellence Strategic Audit/horizon scanning Childcare Social Mobility Poverty Skills 9

The Strategy Unit: outputs • high level strategic advice to the Prime Minister or other confidential advice to Ministers • published “of” the government reports – statements of government policy collectively agreed by ministers • published “to” the government reports – statements of options for the future direction of government policy • more speculative think pieces and discussion papers to explain emerging issues and challenges • individual projects or pieces of work can take from a few days to up to 3 to 4 months 10

The Strategy Unit: Examples of recent impacts Outcomes and impacts resulting from the Unit’s work include : è Broadband/ digital strategy: Implementing the digital strategy is a Manifesto è Extending direct payments to the elderly (introduction of a system of è Fundamental Legal Aid Review. Report jointly published with DCA in July è Schools reform. PMSU/ Df. ES proposals announced in the Schools White è Health choice and contestability work (reform of primary health care). Work commitment. OGC and e-GU are supporting DTI in structuring a programme to implement the strategy individual budgets to give older users of public services the option of taking available resources in cash or service provision) – Recommendations published in the Adult Social Care Green Paper in March 2005 setting out proposals to reform the provision of legal aid Paper published 2 weeks ago at the end of October 2005 with the department forming the basis forthcoming White paper. 11

The Strategy Unit: distinctive features There a number of distinctive features to the way the Unit works : • the Unit has no day to day responsibilities which means it can focus on the important rather than the urgent. All work is project based with teams of between 2 and 8 people working on particular issues • there is an emphasis on analytical rigour and an evidence-based approach, allowing issues to be addressed from first principles • the Unit is staffed by a mix of civil servants and non-civil servants. The civil servants come on loan from government departments; the noncivil servants come from the private sector; academia; think tanks; NGO’s; and overseas. In total there are currently around 60 -65 staff. 12

The Strategy Unit: backgrounds of SU Staff • • Whitehall: Cabinet Office, HM Treasury, FCO, DTI, Df. ES, DH, DEFRA, DWP, Mo. D, HO, ONS Private Sector: Ford, BT, Microsoft, Pw. C, KPMG, Bain, Mc. Kinsey, BCG, Financial Times Wider Public Sector: FSA, LGA, Ofwat, Metropolitan Police, Prison Service, local government Voluntary Sector: Age Concern, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Office of Public Management, Kid’s Club, NCVO Think Tanks: IEA, SMF, IPPR Academia: Newcastle University, Sussex University, Oxford University Overseas: World Bank, German Chancellery, US Department of Labor, Province of British Columbia, French National School of Administration, OECD, Australian Department of Defence 13

The Strategy Unit: projects have covered a very broad range of issues • • • • • • e-commerce rural economies the future of the Post Office network criminal assets adoption e. government workforce development trade policy education health transport local government migration & asylum global health joined up government privacy and data sharing modernisation of government loans energy policy sport deprived areas the life chances of disabled people legal aid • • • • • • childcare electronic networks charity law and regulation ethnic minorities & the labour market GM crops correctional services (prisons, probation) the fishing industry London alcohol drugs local government police reform wealth creation, science & innovation higher education countries at risk of instability social mobility social capital life satisfaction personal responsibility an individual behaviour public service reform public sector innovation There is no area of domestic policy in which the SU could not (in principle) be asked to work 14

Contents • The UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit • roles • distinctive features • outputs, outcomes and impacts • emerging clusters of work FStrategic Audit and Horizon Scanning • Improving Strategic capability across government – the SU survival guide 15

The Strategy Unit: Strategic Audit and horizon scanning The aims of the Unit’s Strategic Audit and horizon scanning functions are: • to take stock of the UK’s overall performance e. g. in relation to other countries • to review progress towards the Government’s long term objectives, including performance in relation to particular population groups • to identify future challenges and opportunities facing the UK and the UK Government • to consider whethere were any potential gaps in current strategies and policies, given current performance and future challenges and opportunities • to inform current and future SU work. This has culminated in published Strategic Audit reports in 2003 16 and 2005 (available at www. strategy. gov. uk)

Contents • The UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit • roles • distinctive features • outputs, outcomes and impacts • emerging clusters of work • Strategic Audit and Horizon Scanning FImproving Strategic capability across government – the SU survival guide 17

The Strategy Unit : building the strategic capability of departments There are five dimensions to the Unit’s centre of excellence role, intended to help strengthen departments’ strategic capacity : – joint working with departments – co-ordinating a Strategy Forum and Strategy Network to share experience and best practice – providing “critical friends” or coaches with experience in strategy work to support departmental strategy work – development of a Strategy Survival Guide setting out best practice in strategy work – secondments in and out of the Strategy Unit 18

The strategy survival guide sets out a ‘map’ for how to go about undertaking strategy work 19

The guide also provides a ‘tool kit’ to support strategic work Managing people and the project Structuring the thinking Building an evidence base Evaluating options Planning delivery Managing stakeholders & communications 20

Many tools and approaches are available Managing people and the project Managing stakeholders & communications People Stakeholders • Recruiting a team • Identifying key stakeholders and their issues • Building a team • Working as a team • Giving and receiving feedback The Project • Effectively managing stakeholders • Developing a stakeholder engagement plan • Developing the plan Communications • Setting milestones • Drawing up a communications plan • Defining accountability • Evaluating the project • Issue trees • SWOT Building an evidence base Collecting data • Surveys • PESTLE • Interviews & focus groups • Systems thinking • Data types & sources • Creativity techniques Analysing data • Modelling Evaluating options • Multi-criteria analysis • Cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis • Rationale for Government intervention • Market analysis • Structuring the work • Managing risks Structuring the thinking • Communication with the media • Evaluating communications • Preparing presentations • Organisational analysis Learning from others • International comparisons • Benchmarking Looking forward • Forecasting Planning delivery • Change management • Institutional change • Designing an implementation plan • Scenario development • Counterfactual analysis 21

Some examples of tools and frameworks Stakeholder maps è Issue trees è Implementation planning è è This is just a taster – the Strategy Survival Guide sets out these and many more tools and frameworks in more detail 22

What is a stakeholder map? High Manage Involve Importance - How influential - How affected Low Monitor Acknowledge High Low Support 23

What is an issue tree? Across the board? Increase prices? Specific products? Can we increase revenue? Increase advertising? Increase volume? How can the department canteen increase profits? Promotions? Across the board? Fewer inputs? Select products? Can we decrease costs Change supplier? Cheaper inputs? Negotiate? 24

Issue trees in the childcare project 25

Institutional change There a number of common criteria that should be assessed, whether designing a new institution or changing an existing institution to deliver a new strategy, including: • Role and remit • Nature and fit with existing system • Accountability, performance measures and reporting arrangements • Organisation and governance • Capabilities and employees • Capacity requirements • Incentives and motivation • Infrastructure requirements • Funding requirements, sources and inspection è What are the implications for the strategic direction? è What are the trade-offs between different approaches? è 26

Our Strategy Survival Guide provides further detail. . . Strategy Survival Guide home | project phases | strategy skills | site index Home Project Phases Strategy Skills Typical tasks and outputs of each phase of a strategy project Essential tools and approaches for successful strategy work è www. strategy. gov. uk 27

Dr Patricia Greer, Deputy Director Patricia. Greer@Cabinet-Office. x. gsi. gov. uk Tel. 44 20 7276 1431 28