Sherin Aminossehe on the MOD’S INFRASTRUCTURE PLANS and HER RETURN from the PRIVATE SECTOR

DATA FORCE SENIOR FIGURES ON DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN DEFENCE

Issue 306 | May 2021 | www.civilserviceworld.com

CONCRETE PROGRESS Sherin Aminossehe ON THE MOD’S INFRASTRUCTURE PLANS AND HER RETURN FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR

A PROBLEM HALVED? CIVIL SERVICE JOBSHARES WHAT SIMON IN COVID SAID GOES THE WHITEHALL POWER OF DEPARTING NHS CHIEF

01 CSW306 cover.indd 1 12/05/2021 09:26:26 CSWAd-PlanesTanksShipsPhone-v1.pdf 1 12/05/2021 19:07

Planes, Tanks, Ships, and Smartphones How defence integration can improve military capability

M Tuesday 15 June 2021

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RED BOX 4 INBOX Simon Case at PACAC and your letters 6 NEWS Latest on government comms reforms

OPINION 8 ALEX THOMAS Ideas to up skill Whitehall 10 DAVE PENMAN Do inquiries into the PM’s conduct matter to the voting public? 11 DOMINIC ABRAMS Covid shows government must do more to engage local communities 12 COLIN TALBOT & CAROLE TALBOT Are we due a levelling-up overhaul? 13 MICHAEL BICHARD Government could make much better use of non-execs 14 ANDY COWPER Life after NHS boss Simon Stevens

DIGITAL AND DATA 16 PART AND PARCEL Departments have signed deals worth hundreds of millions with Amazon 22 Web Services in the last six months

FEATURES 18 PROJECT RUNWAY MoD infrastructure director Sherin Aminossehe on concrete and complexity 22 TRANSFORMERS Meet the team working to increase digital skills in defence 26 FITZ AND STARTS MoD digital engagement director John Fitzpatrick on the evolution of his career 30 DOUBLE DUTY 12 14 How job share partners are supporting each other through the pandemic

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03 CSW306 contents.indd 3 12/05/2021 16:03:41 ❯ RED BOX EDITOR’S COLUMN Edited by ❯ RED BOX Sarah Astion FROM THE EDITOR

here are those people it reveal too much? The cab sec who – perish the thought was asked them all, and though T– don’t read this fi ne to my ear his answers seemed title, and don’t follow the ins perfectly reasonable for a civil and outs of the civil service. servant placed in a very invidi- The people who can’t name the ous position, they didn’t seem to cabinet secretary, or the BEIS please anyone. So much so that perm sec, or the head of the the new sadly-familiar briefi ng Government Legal Department. against civil servants found a So at moments when new target in the still new-ish top offi cials are thrust into cab sec, who took the job in the the who-knew-what-when the trust of the prime minister, the spotlight, a lot of people most diffi cult circumstances details of the No.10 refurb. and would not do so by airing notice them for the fi rst time. imaginable and defi nitely isn’t There may be some truth to his dirty laundry, or criticising Simon Case’s late April getting a belated honeymoon this. Case is, by his own admis- his furniture choices, in front of appearance before the Public now, even as politicians seem sion, relatively inexperienced MPs. Indeed, the close work- Administration and Constitu- to be having their popularity for the top role. He told MPs in ing relationship of the PM and tional Aff airs Committee turned boosted by every vaccine dose. a previous PACAC session (one this cab sec – he had only been out to be one such moment. What to make of it? Well, the of those that CSW was much back in the civil service as the Though these clashes are al- fi rst point is that, as former civil more lonely in covering) that perm sec of 10 Downing Street ways big news in the CSW bub- servant and sometime CSW there were gaps in his CV, most for months before the cab sec ble (used in its pre-2020 sense), contributor Martin Stanley notably that he has never led a role came up, and he had clearly they don’t always crowbar their pointed out, offi cials have to department. But he insisted he impressed the PM enough to way into the six o’clock news. comply with the Osmotherly had a track record of giving dif- go for it – is one of the things This one, though, was dif- Rules, which say “civil servants fi cult advice to prime ministers, that could repair the strained ferent. Case arrived before MPs who give evidence to select and told civil servants “they relationship between the prime just as a host of inquiries into committees do so on behalf of absolutely must keep speak- minister and the civil service. various dealings by the PM and their ministers and under their ing truth unto power fearlessly, But, as with so many of his predecessors were getting directions”. So it is the prime in line with our values”. the inquiries ﬂ oating around under way, so he was asked minister who will have set the Without having been in the government at the moment, about them. How was the deco- parameters of Case’s evidence. rooms at No.10, it is impossible it is the prime minister, not ration of the Downing Street ﬂ at By extension, the debate to test whether Case has met his the cab sec, who is the pri- paid for? How did Lex Greensill moved onto Case’s youth, with pledge, but over-analysing one mary decision-maker. It is at get so much access to govern- some claiming a more griz- select committee appearance is his door, whether styled by ment? Did the prime minister zled Whitehall veteran may a poor proxy for it too. The cabi- John Lewis or Lulu Lytle, that try to block a leak inquiry, lest have pushed harder to reveal net secretary needs to retain scrutiny should be placed.

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(Jessica Bowie and Suzannah Brecknell are on maternity leave)

4 | May 2021 | civilserviceworld.com

04-5 CSW306 leader and letters.indd 4 12/05/2021 16:02:05 ❮ CORRESPONDENCE RED BOXEdited by ❯ RED BOX Winnie Agbonlahor

wage for the work that’s Paul Howarth commented: done,” Peter Galley agreed. “They probably couldn’t The report also prompt- source civil servants with INBOX ed this observation from these skills because they don’t [email protected] @es_ska_pade on Twitter: pay civil servants £1,115 per twitter.com/CSWNews “”I suspect by the same logic day, so these people work in that some assurance/enforce- the private sector instead.” ment officers may have the And Paul Mason added: same level of knowledge.” “Until the civil service is SECOND LOOK (skills profiles, etc). There is a given the budget to train, The news that the cabinet very specific way candidates SKILLING UP this will always be the case.” secretary, Simon Case, sent need to present themselves; Readers also agreed with Meanwhile, Martin out a memo telling sen- which can seem quite opaque the findings of a second Clements commented: ior civil servants to report to those from the private sec- IfG report that warned the “What a shocking waste any second jobs, to ensure tor,” Alexandrea Sufit said. civil service’s “ad-hoc” of public funds!” “transparency and full Mark Ryan suggested approach to training isn’t Not everyone felt proper management” of there might be another reason working, and that without a the money was being outside interests, prompted people might not apply for clear strategy it will strug- used poorly, however. some strong opinions. jobs: “So it’s not the pay then!” gle to fill skills gaps and “Behind the headline, “It is almost unbelievable tackle future challenges. ‘£1,115 per day for each of the that this needs saying. Would Alison Schofield asked: 35 people’ is a decent going any of us, as career civil serv- TRUST ISSUES “Should we be surprised, given rate for highly skilled people, ants, even think it would be ap- Readers were alarmed at the cuts made to training no?” asked @Ben_MegaUK propriate for us to have second reports that cabinet sec- and development budgets on Twitter. “I’m not one to jobs at all – let alone one linked retary Simon Case had not over the last ten years?” defend reckless government to our official duties? Beggars been told about the prime Mark De Buisseret com- spending (far from it!) but belief,” Geoff Eales wrote. minister’s plans to set up a mented: “What doesn’t help is you have to expect to pay Mark Ryan added: trust to bankroll the renova- when grade is taken as more for skills within reason.” “Barn doors and horses tions of his Downing Street important than qualifica- Alan Bradley added: come to mind!” flat until media reports tions. I was one of two part- “These consultants can be Mark De Buisseret said emerged in February. qualified accountants taken dropped after 50 days with civil servants should not be “I am at a loss to under- on as junior staff. Despite no ongoing cost. They seem the only ones under scrutiny. stand how this could have a shortage of accountants, worryingly good value.” “It’s a pity MPs are not stopped even been considered by the because of our grade we both from having second jobs,” he Charity Commission. There were passed over for possible said. “It’s not as if MPs are is little, if any, public ben- help with accountancy train- STANDARD PRACTICE unpaid. Second jobs of any efit,”Helga Edstrom said. ing, despite being a much Another source of contro- kind always seem to lead to But not everyone agreed. cheaper option than getting versy was the prime min- trouble where MPs are con- Simon Hall commented: “This someone fresh in so we left... ister’s decision, when he cerned. If they were banned subject is becoming rather It’s a ridiculous situation.” appointed Lord Geidt as the problems would go away.” boring in my view. Clearly the new independent adviser on Elizabeth Haggis had news of this ‘scandal’ didn’t ministerial standards, not the same thought: “Are MPs reach Hartlepool! Could it OUTSOURCE OF to give him the authority to classed as civil servants?” be that it’s only of interest CONTENTION launch his own investiga- now to a rapidly diminish- Readers suggested pay was tions despite calls to do so. ing number of people?” also a factor that led NHS “Bring back the standards MATCH FIT Test and Trace to hire a board,” Eleanor Greene wrote. Readers were quite taken £40,000-a-day digital con- “Give it a transparency re- with the new civil service PAY UP sultancy team for a six-month quirement and a clear mandate careers matchmaking service Several readers reached contract after admitting it and democracy will benefit.” that launched this month, to the same conclusion after did “not have sufficient staff tackle a “lack of confidence” reading up on an Institute with the necessary skills and among the public that puts for Government report that experience to create the team them off applying for jobs. found staff churn had led without external support”. IN THE NEXT ISSUE “Well done [project man- to a situation where gov- “Civil service doesn’t pay Home Office permanent ager] Brian Stanislas and ernment lawyers had bet- enough to recruit or retain secretary Matthew Rycroft and team. This is fab,” @Kid- ter knowledge of policy many people with the skills re- Race Action Programme Team dRozanne wrote on Twitter. than policy officers. quired,” Mark Ryan said. “Why head Hamid Motraghi discuss “Great initiative. The “Pay more, simple,” Da- join an organisation that hasn’t the department’s response to framework for applying can vid Hamilton suggested. received a cost of living pay in- the Windrush scandal. also be daunting to outsiders “Maybe pay the correct crease for more than a decade!”

civilserviceworld.com | May 2021 | 5

04-5 CSW306 leader and letters.indd 5 12/05/2021 16:02:06 ❯ RED BOX NEWS Edited by ❯ RED BOX Sarah Astion GCS urged to ‘rebuild trust’ in comms reforms As Downing Street scraps plans for White House-style televised press briefings, Beckie Smith reports on the state of play of wider government comms reforms

Empty podium Downing Street’s new press briefing room will not now host daily updates

he government has been urged to confirmed last month that plans for daily She said officials who learned about “rebuild trust” among communica- televised briefings had been scrapped de- proposed reforms in the press felt “de- Ttions staff after leaks and poorly- spite £2.6m being spent on a briefing room. cisions had already arbitrarily been coordinated announcements about reforms The wider reform plan remains under made without any consultation”. to the Government Communication Ser- development. The Reshaping GCS project And Garry Graham, deputy gen- vice have left staff anxious for their jobs. team is currently working on the detailed eral secretary of Prospect, said some A project team within GCS is de- design for the revamped organisation, in- announcements made before any ap- signing a “smaller, more unified” and cluding “roles, responsibilities, structures parent scoping work on what the ex- more effective organisation by summer and headcount”, according to a presenta- isting landscape looked like made 2022, and is currently hammering out tion put together for staff last month. the plans seem uninformed. details of staffing and structures, ac- It said the reforms will create a better “They announced the destination cording to documents seen by CSW. culture, improved training and more career without having a clear view of what’s The Reshaping GCS project be- opportunities for staff; enable more shar- in place at the moment,” he said. It was gan last summer, when it was reported ing of best practices and resources; create not until after government sources had that No.10 was planning to dramati- career opportunities; and break down silos. set out the planned 30-press officer cally cut staff numbers and exert However, unions have warned confu- limit last summer that GCS announced greater control over messaging. sion caused by the leaks and the way an audit of existing staff, for example. Leaked plans included imposing decisions were taken early on have un- Such pronouncements – as well as a limit of 30 press officers per depart- nerved staff and undermined the project. plans to line manage comms staff under ment and broadcasting White House- Amy Leversidge, assistant general a “single employer model”, which CSW style televised press conferences. secretary of the FDA union, said comms understands have since been dropped But GCS has since distanced itself from staff are “very anxious about the ongo- – gave the reforms the appearance of the 30-staff figure, while Allegra Stratton, ing uncertainty around the centralisa- a political power grab, Graham said. briefly Downing Street press secretary, tion of government communications”. In addition, GCS head Alex Aiken

6 | May 2021 | civilserviceworld.com

06-7 CSW306 news.indd 6 12/05/2021 16:04:32 ❮ NEWS RED BOXEdited by ❯ RED BOX Winnie Agbonlahor

confirmed in a staff memo last month minister and the civil service leadership”. training opportunities would be welcome, that the service was “exploring the The chief exec will be supported by as well as moves to share best practice. potential for voluntary exit schemes”. two executive directors. “These roles However, she said GCS must repair However, no information on timelines provide more career progression and the “damage” caused early on. “Comms and eligibility have been released. opportunities at the most senior lev- staff are the ones who have the experience, And in a letter to the project team els of government,” the memo said. expertise and understanding of the com- last month, the PCS union said there GCS will meanwhile consider “com- plexities of government communications should not be a centrally-determined exit petitive pay and reward” packages, more and they should be at the front and centre scheme, saying the “authority” to run such learning opportunities and a “progres- of the project… it is clear that the govern- schemes rests with individual departments sive development structure”, according ment needs to work a lot harder to make or agencies, not “the GCS project team to the presentation on the reforms. sure that comms staff are listened to and nor any other part of the civil service”. The reforms will help the public in consulted with over the plans,” she said. While details on structural changes three ways, according to the presentation: A Cabinet Office spokesperson are still scarce, a memo to GCS staff from by enabling government comms to have said: “As part of wider civil service the project director last month confirmed an “even greater impact on some of the reform, Reshaping GCS is a transfor- a chief executive will be recruited to lead biggest issues affecting the UK today, both mation programme that will further government communications. The crea- domestically and internationally”; telling a strengthen and unify GCS, making it fit tion of the director general-level role will “clearer story” to the public, with messages for the future and ensuring it meets the “put communication on a par with other aligned to the prime minister’s priority needs of government and taxpayers. functions in the civil service”, it said. themes outlined in the “Build Back Better” “GCS colleagues have been en- It had been reported that Aiken will growth plan; and saving money by making gaged in co-creating the future of the leave GCS this year, but a spokesperson comms services smaller and more efficient profession through workshops, and said the reports are “untrue” and that and by reducing duplication of campaigns. full consultation with staff will con- Aiken “retains the full support of the prime Leversidge said improved career and tinue as this work progresses.”

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06-7 CSW306 news.indd 7 12/05/2021 16:04:32 ❯ OPINION ALEX THOMAS SKILLS AND SPILLS IN THE CIVIL SERVICE THE GOVERNMENT IS KEEN TO als. These groups can be made up of people with different and complementary skill sets from inside and outside the civil BOOST CIVIL SERVANTS’ SKILLS service. In particular, the nature of the projects future govern- AND, EVEN IN THE MIDST OF THE ments will want and need to do – from net zero to infrastruc- GREENSILL SCANDAL, WHITEHALL ture improvement – means that the civil service will need more expert project and portfolio managers to make up these teams. NEEDS TO THINK ABOUT BOTH Next, there is a common critique that the civil service needs INTERNAL TRAINING AND BRINGING more of one or another particular professional skill. That might IN EXTERNAL SKILLS. HERE ARE mean more digital specialists, project managers or data analysts. That is fair enough, but the civil service already has thousands SOME IDEAS FOR REFORM of experts in its ranks. More than half of civil servants are op- hen the prime minister arrived in Down- erational delivery specialists working with citizens on the front ing Street, his team put civil service reform line of public services. The UK government is a large employer near the top of their priority list. The PM’s of scientists and engineers; data, digital and technology experts, former adviser Dominic Cummings called commercial professionals; analysts; and project managers. for “weirdos and misfits with odd skills” to But the data collected on who has these skills, and to what Wjoin the civil service to ensure “genuine cognitive diversity”. level of competence, is inadequate. Consistent information is Though at the same time, he issued a contradictory warn- lacking and different data-collection systems across departments ing that he would “bin you within weeks if you don’t fit”. mean civil service leaders do not know enough about their work- Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove offered a more conven- force, the skills they have available, or how best to deploy them. tional critique of the lack of “basic skills required to serve govern- Sorting that out should be a top priority. The civil service needs ment, and our citizens, well” to commit to collecting better data on skills, in his 2020 Ditchley speech. and its senior leadership should set up a He pointed to gaps in programme of systematic data collection. mathematics and statistics, This is not data for data’s sake – it is vital procurement, science and to effectively managing any workforce. engineering, and expertise The next priority is to make managers in specific policy areas. accountable for developing the skills of their The government’s view teams. Training is too often seen as a has been that enhancing “nice to have” and managers need to the skills of the civil service have their feet held to the fire for bring- is essential to deliver its ing on the people they oversee. They other objectives. That is should be held directly accountable right. Identifying, attracting, for their team’s development, as well developing and deploy- as their own, and set rigorous devel- ing the right civil service opment goals with the people skills will be critical to the they manage each year and success of this govern- report back on how far ment and its successors. Misfit magnet Dominic Cummings they have been met. A new Institute for Opportunities for Government report on finding the right skills for the civil service development are too rare for those civil looks at the progress made and what needs to happen next. servants who are not new starters or consid- In the heat of the Greensill scandal it is easy to lose sight ered top talent. Self-development should of the benefits that bringing in new skills can have, and of be a fundamental part of every civil the progress the civil service has made. Reforms over the servant’s job, to improve performance last decade have helped to create and develop the cross- in their current role and to develop government functions and professions that improve how skills needed to progress. Funding government builds and deploys its specialist skills. should not be a barrier to taking up The first of our recommendations is that the civil service relevant opportunities to learn. should have a strategy to set out the skills it wants to develop. Building on ongoing efforts That includes more data, digital, finance, and project and port- by the Government Skills and Cur- folio management capability. Without a clear, cross-civil service riculum Unit, a core group of training strategic plan, priorities will be ad hoc and skills development courses should be developed for skills that are will remain patchy across departments (and functions). important across the civil service, particularly for The civil service also needs to be able to create, deploy and improving writing, numeracy, collaborating within manage effective, multi-disciplinary teams that more formally and across teams, and core digital skills. Civil serv- bring together the expertise and skills of different profession- ants who work with ministers and parliament need

8 | May 2021 | civilserviceworld.com

08-9 CSW306 ifg opinion.indd 8 11/05/2021 15:21:12 ❯ OPINION COLUMNIST ❮ OPINION

to learn from the experience of others, and policy officials still needs those skills. Stronger ethical oversight of trans- need an understanding of economic and financial models. fers between the private and public sector is required, but The quality of training also needs more rigor- that should not stop the circulation of skilled people. ous assessment and accreditation. The civil service That should sit alongside efforts to bring senior police, health, should invest in evaluation and avoid long contract- central and local government public servants together to develop ing cycles that are hard to adapt and improve. their leadership, building on the model of the National Leader- It is a brave think tank that, during a lobbying furore, ship Centre. The wider public sector has a lot to offer the civil issues a call for continuing to build private-sector experi- service but tapping into this experience and insight can be hard. ence and expertise in the civil service. But the civil service Improving skills in the civil service is not something that will ever be finished. Like almost all organisations, the government “The civil service needs to workforce needs to refresh and redefine the skills it needs over be able to create, deploy time. That is the challenge for the current civil service leadership, no less than that when Lord Fulton issued his 1968 call and manage effective, for the civil service to “think out what new skills and multi-disciplinary teams kinds of men are needed, and how these men can that more formally bring be found, trained and deployed”. His language is outdated, but his insight remains true today. together the expertise and skills of different Alex Thomas is an Institute for Government professionals” programme director leading work on policymaking and the civil service

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08-9 CSW306 ifg opinion.indd 9 11/05/2021 15:21:12 OPINION❯ ❯ COLUMNISTOPINION DAVE PENMANSTANDARDS IN PUBLIC STRIFE THE VARIOUS INQUIRIES DOGGING were worried the results would be skewed by all the negative headlines. When they did conduct the poll, they discovered THE GOVERNMENT DO NOT that trust in politicians was so low, it didn’t really matter. SEEM TO HAVE AFFECTED THEM This is a government that famously wants to ignore the ELECTORALLY. UNFORTUNATELY, Westminster bubble and speak directly to voters. Are standards in government simply a bubble issue that this or any THAT SEEMS TO BE THE ONLY government can ride out without signifi cant electoral impact? THING THAT MATTERS TO I don’t have the answer to that and I suspect few do. What THE PRIME MINISTER mattered in 1995, when the Committee on Standards in Pub- lic Life were set up, probably doesn’t matter now in the same ’m in the mood for dancin’, romancin’ way to voters. Is this the lesson this government will take Ooh I’m given’ it all tonight from Super Thursday? All good here, voters don’t give a fi g. I’m in the mood for chancin’ The issue, though, is that standards in public life, and par- I feel like dancin’ ticularly at the heart of government, do matter. It’s not simply Ooh so come on and hold me tight a moral question whether ministers grant preferential access I to government to former colleagues working for private If you google Nolan, you’re more likely to get gain, whether being a friend of a minister gives you a better this as an early result than the seven principles of chance of winning a contract or, indeed, whether your con- public life. I think this is perhaps where our cur- duct as a minister is held to the same standards that apply rent prime minister has gone wrong. Chancin’ and to the sta who serve you. It matters in the end because de- romancin’ could be his Twitter handle, as they cisions ministers take, including spending our money, are say, or etched on his gravestone for our meant to be in our interest alone. That, of course, older readers. I’ve never seen the PM is as true for the civil service as it is for ministers. dancin’ though and, quite frankly, the A government that is confi dent about its prospect fills me with dread having seen decisions and conduct should welcome trans- his predecessor’s efforts to ABBA. parency and independence of oversight. As I write this on the morning af- Instead, over the last few months, informa- ter Super Thursday, I’m struck by two tion has had to be dragged from ministers by startling facts. Firstly, I’m in the mood investigative journalists. The prime minister himself has danced on the head of a pin in his answers, trying to give the impres- “Are standards in sion of being transparent whilst ensuring government simply a his partial responses won’t come back to bubble issue that this or haunt him when facts eventually appear. In the midst of this the prime minister any government can ride had the chance, with the appointment of a out without signifi cant new independent adviser on ministers’ inter- electoral impact?” ests, to demonstrate that some of these lessons were being learnt. The Committee on Standards for dancing, the 1979 hit for the Nolan Sisters, in Public Life had recommended that the adviser sold 673,850 copies in Japan. I post this with- should have the power to launch investigations. out comment, as they say. Secondly, despite a Instead, the prime minister, who is the sole ar- month of headlines that have mired the prime biter of fi nal decisions on the ministerial code, minister in allegations of sleaze and misconduct, also retained the power to decide whether an including lobbyists having privileged access investigation is even launched in the fi rst place. to the cabinet, Tory donors being awarded PPE The choice could not have been starker or contracts and a fi nancial scandal that is literally at come at a more opportune time for the PM. Had his front door, the Conservatives under Johnson he wanted to rebuild trust among civil serv- have just taken Hartlepool and are probably on ants and the public, following the damage done course for an impressive set of mid-term results. by his ministerial code decision on the home What does this tell us? At this moment in time, secretary, that single reform would have helped it may be that these issues do not really resonate immeasurably. Instead, he was chancin’ that electorally. When the #metoo scandal broke in he’d get away with it electorally, because in Westminster, it was around the time of the usual the end, that’s all that apparently matters. opinion poll from Ipsos Mori that looks at trust in a range of occupations, called the Veracity Dave Penman is general secretary of the Index. The pollsters decided to wait as they FDA union. He tweets @FDAgensec

10 | May 2021 | civilserviceworld.com

10 CSW306 Opinion Penman.indd 10 12/05/2021 09:26:45 ❯ OPINION COLUMNIST ❮ OPINION DOMINIC ABRAMS THE LESSONS FROM COVID ARE LOCAL CORONAVIRUS AND THE understanding and supporting local communities across the UK. The research programme will shed light on what makes STALLED EUROPEAN SUPER some local communities stronger, more equal, and more LEAGUE SHOULD TEACH connected than others; why some communities are particu- POLICYMAKERS THE SAME THING: larly vulnerable to crises; and how policymakers can use these insights to reinforce the strength of communities and THERE IS AN URGENT NEED TO improve social, economic and environmental outcomes. ENGAGE LOCAL COMMUNITIES The answers to these questions will be multifaceted. For IN POLICY AND DELIVERY instance, evidence shows that the presence of – and accessi- bility to – local volunteer, community and mutual-aid groups t is over a year since Covid-19 arrived on British shores and have been critical to the Covid-19 response, which hints at the pandemic’s power to expose the vulnerabilities and the potential advantages of building and sustaining this strengths of our society remains undimmed. The crisis has type of capacity in communities across the country. Mean- laid bare longstanding inequalities between rich and poor, while, history shows that local and community knowledge, old and young, north and south, those in different types of including knowledge held within local government, is a vital Iemployment, and various ethnic communities. It has revealed resource in combating and recovering from epidemics. the extent of the state’s resources and potential to protect the Strongly related to understanding people’s connection to com- vulnerable and fix that which is broken. And it has provided a munities is the question of where people are willing to place their glimpse of exciting futures, such as one in which town centres trust. The UK entered the pandemic with already very low levels play new roles, travel patterns are very different, edu- of trust in central cation is provided in new ways, and remote-working “In a rare display of solidarity, government and technology unlocks employment and investment op- the media, but the portunities for previously neglected regions and people. football fans across the UK evidence suggests But the pandemic has also demonstrated the es- and Europe joined forces to these have declined sential role that communities play in individual and oppose this assault on their even further. At collective wellbeing, as well as the deep attachments the same time, that many people feel to their local communities. communities and forced the however, we know For proof of the latter, look no further than the fero- instigators to think again” that trust in local cious backlash that followed recent attempts by six government has English football been higher and steadier, which tells clubs to join a new us that attending to the relationships breakaway Euro- between community members, local pean Super League. politicians, local policymakers and local At the heart of decision makers could play a key role in people’s rage was improving community development and the sense that a tiny individual and community wellbeing. group of distant The need to find ways to support billionaires could community resilience that are based on have the audacity sound evidence and principles, as well to exploit precious as being practical and feasible to imple- community assets, ment, is particularly urgent given the some of them over perfect storm currently engulfing lo- a hundred years cal councils’ finance departments, and old, ostensibly to any further constraints on spending expand their profit Booted out Communities pushed will inevitably compound inequalities. margins. In a rare back against Super League plans Economic ‘levelling up’ is certainly es- display of soli- sential, but there is also much work to be darity, football fans across the UK and Europe joined forces done to enable communities to make the most of what is avail- to oppose this assault on their communities and forced the able to them – to ensure they are equipped to recognise, share instigators to think again. With protests emerging from all and use their economic resources to establish greater personal directions, including the most senior politicians, we wit- and collective strength for the whole community. Let’s find nessed the force of shared common interests and values. out what makes a strong community – and then develop tar- Amid this renewed focus on the value of communities, the geted measures to create more of them across the UK. British Academy and the Nuffield Foundation have devised Understanding Communities, a timely collaboration to bring Professor Dominic Abrams is a fellow of the Royal Academy, together and fund new research from policymakers, researchers and a professor of social psychology and director of the Centre and practitioners on the ground to identify practical means of for the Study of Group Processes at the University of Kent

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11 CSW306 Abrams_British Academy.indd 11 11/05/2021 15:22:24 OPINION❯ ❯ COLUMNISTOPINION COLIN TALBOT & CAROLE TALBOT LEVELLING UP 2.0 A PROMINENT MP HAS BEEN away from these areas during the previous decade of austerity. This is important because one of the points Neil O’Brien APPOINTED AS THE PRIME has made is that levelling-up should not just be about geo- MINISTER’S ADVISER ON LEVELLING graphical areas, but it should also be about individuals. UP. WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR THE In a Conservative Home blog post last February he argued that ‘levelling-up’ should also be about individuals – some- NEXT STAGE OF THIS AGENDA? thing that has been largely absent from what discussion ore than a year ago we asked in these pag- there has been by government of what this agenda means. es: what is the government’s ‘levelling up’ But O’Brien also pointed out in his blog that government poli- agenda? The answer was, in brief, no-one cies are often skewed against some areas. Our analysis of public nearly knew. We pointed out that one Con- spending per head across English regions confirms that this is servative MP was asking some interesting true (although some of the inequality was reduced after 1997). Mquestions and suggesting ideas: his name? Neil O’Brien. This raises big issues about public spending though. To Scroll forward fifteen months and theFinancial ‘level-up’ all English regions to the same spending per head Times reports “Confusion over UK ‘levelling-up’ plan as in London would have cost about £72bn in 2017-18. prompts Boris Johnson to hire new adviser”. And who has Boris Johnson just appointed to take charge of clarifying the ‘levelling up’ agenda? Yes, you guessed, it’s Neil O’Brien MP. This interesting on several levels. First, it is an admission that no-one really has a clear idea of what ‘levelling-up’ means. Accord- ing to the FT, ‘it’s a running joke amongst No.10 staff that “it’s a slogan without a purpose” ‘. Second, bringing in O’Brien is probably only possible now once Dominic Cummings and the ‘Vote Leave’ cabal have been defenestrated from No.10. O’Brien is an independent thinker and something of a policy wonk who would not have got a look in had Cummings still been in charge. Third, and probably most importantly, will O’Brien’s appointment signal a change of direction for ‘levelling-up’? Home from home Treasury staff are set to Up until now, to the extent that ‘levelling-up’ move to a new economic campus in Darlington has meant anything it’s been about geographical, one might even say constituency, based initiatives. And the sort of symbolic ‘Whitehall moving North’ to The biggest symbolic announcements have been about Wolverhampton and Darlington are likely to have very lim- moving bits of Whitehall to so-called ‘red wall’ areas. ited impact on the big picture of civil service distribution. Our The decision to move about a fifth of Treasury staff to Dar- historical analysis suggests the big movement out of London lington to create an economic campus was one eye-catching and the south east already happened in four decades from announcement in Rishi Sunak’s March 2021 Budget statement. 1970 to 2010. There has been a slight reversal of this trend since 2010 (partly due to extra recruitment caused by Brexit) “To the extent that ‘levelling-up’ but there seems limited scope for big further migrations. has meant anything it’s been about The really big issue, we would argue, which O’Brien failed to mention in his post last year, was any notion of geographical, one might even say levelling-up the distribution of power within England, constituency, based initiatives” and between London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. If anything, the recent initiatives like the Towns Fund This followed on from the announcement in the previous month have moved more power into Whitehall and Westmin- that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Govern- ster as ministers get to ‘pick favourites’ for their lar- ment will open a Wolverhampton outpost that will see more than gesse. There is certainly no hint of levelling-up the bal- 500 departmental staff based in the West Midlands by 2025. ance of power between Whitehall and town halls. The only other big initiative that could be construed as part If Brexit, and especially the more recent emphasis on of the ‘levelling-up’ agenda has been the so-called Towns Fund. ‘sovereignty’, tells us anything it is that a sense of powerless- Announced in July 2019 by the Ministry of Housing, Communi- ness was a key driver in the so-called ‘left behind’ areas. ties and Local Government, with total funding of £3.6bn, this Unless O’Brien’s ‘levelling-up’ reboot address- was allocated through a controversial bidding process. And of es some of these issues, we’ll be back here in an- course it came nowhere near replacing what had been taken other year asking ‘what was that all about?

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12 CSW306 Talbot opinion.indd 12 11/05/2021 16:52:48 ❯ OPINION COLUMNIST ❮ OPINION MICHAEL BICHARD MAKING THE MOST OF NON-EXECS GIVING DEPARTMENTAL BOARDS take them seriously. As a result, both non-executives and ministers can feel frustrated. Our report makes five sug- A STRONGER ROLE WOULD HELP gestions to strengthen ministers’ ability to direct their de- GOVERNMENT BECOME MORE partments by complementing their political insight with EFFECTIVE, SAYS THE FORMER the varied professional insight of board members. First, scrap the current guidance that excludes boards from PERMANENT SECRETARY AT THE discussing policy. While ministers are clearly the source and DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION origin of policy, they can and do discuss it extensively with officials. So why keep policy – or more specifically, the best ways of ith the BBC currently repeating Yes, Minister, translating policy intent into practical action – off board agendas, it is tempting to speculate what Sir Hum- where non-executives could contribute their extensive experi- phrey’s reaction to the idea of a board to run ence of forming effective strategy and turning it into action? the department would have been. The curl of Second, the government has rightly decided that departmental his lip at such an import from the base world planning needs a fundamental shake-up, with new Outcome De- Wof business would have been something to behold, I suspect. livery Plans. The management of departmental project portfolios You probably have to be very much a Whitehall watcher also needs to be strengthened and boards should be given formal to know that government departments now have authority for assuring boards, like companies, charities and other organisa- “The effectiveness of the soundness of both. tions. They are chaired by secretaries of state and boards is limited by their Third, making the include other ministers, top officials and independent right appointments at non-executives, usually with a business background. exclusion from the formative the top of the organisa- Their origins go back to the 1990s. The two crucial stages of strategy and tion, and managing elements, however – that secretaries of state chair and policy development, and the performance, is critical that most non-executives are from business – were to business success put in place by the coalition government after 2010. tendency of some ministers anywhere. Non-execu- When I say “like companies”, that is actually rather not to take them seriously” tives already play some a stretch. Unlike boards role on these fronts in in other sectors, de- departments, but we suggest that needs partmental boards have to be strengthened and formalised. no legal personality Fourth, while the main elements of or defined powers and what boards do need to be the same duties. But does the lack across government, their precise ways of formal status mean of working should be tailored to in- departmental boards dividual departments. Departments are a flawed concept? vary significantly in size, budgets, The Commission for and in the accountability and govern- Smart Government, of ance of operational functions. Above which I am a member, all, secretaries of state have their own along with current bundle of experiences and preferences. and former govern- Each board’s ways of working should ment non-executives, be discussed between the secretary of decided we should take state, permanent secretary and lead non- a look. Our answer is Curled lip? Sir Humphrey Appleby executive, and properly documented. that they have undoubt- Finally, the key elements of board edly been doing useful work, but could do so much more. effectiveness need to be defined in a one-to-two-page docu- A few well-judged changes would allow them to take on a ment and assessed as part of the Treasury and Cabinet Office’s powerful and much more useful role in improving the plan- assessment of departments’ systems and effectiveness. ning and execution of the government’s policy intentions. Unlike so many attempted reforms in government, boards As they stand, to varying extents, boards and the independ- have survived and won acceptance for their usefulness, up ent non-executives on them are making a positive difference. to a point. Let’s charge them up further, as a key supporting Independently-chaired audit committees work well, and outside piece of infrastructure for modern, smart, government. formal processes, non-executives contribute their experience and insight, helping to address in particular the tendency of Whitehall Lord Michael Bichard is a crossbench peer in the House discussions to be “non-operational”, as one non-executive put it. of Lords and until this year was chair of the National However, the effectiveness of boards is limited by their Audit Office. He was previously permanent secretary exclusion from the formative stages of strategy and policy at the Department for Education and Employment and development, and the tendency of some ministers not to the first director of the Institute for Government

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13 CSW306 Bichard.indd 13 11/05/2021 15:23:34 OPINION❯ ❯ COLUMNISTOPINION ANDY COWPER NHS ACT WON’T PAY SOCIAL CARE BILL A mere decade in the waiting. Nobody could accuse this government, nor its three predecessors, of rushing social care NEW reform. The PM loves Latin quotes: “festinare lente” (more haste, less speed) must be its social care reform motto. REGULAR Senior hands will recall that former Conserva- COLUMN tive chancellor George Osborne raised Dilnot’s suggested £35,000 “cap” level to £72,000 and deferred im- plementation until 2016, and then until 2020. The Treasury is hitting back with the notion that the cap/ IN HIS FIRST COLUMN FOR CSW, floor arrangement, if set at around £100,000, will reward high-value house owner-occupiers in the south, while po- HEALTH POLICY EXPERT ANDY tentially taking the entire estate of less high-value house COWPER REVIEWS SIMON owner-occupiers in areas such as the “Red Wall” seats that STEVENS’S WHITEHALL LEGACY, gave the current government its commanding majority. AND CONSIDERS THE CHANGES Enter the new health bill, exit Sir Simon Stevens BEING WROUGHT BY THE NEW The new health bill is about 95% written by the outgo- ROUND OF HEALTH REFORMS ing NHS England boss Sir Simon Stevens, who compiled a list of legislative requests for the government. THE NHS BOSS AUTHORED Stevens was in large part hired to take health off the gov- t’s a pleasure to start a new regular column on health and ernment’s agenda after the high-profile political disaster of care issues for CSW. Health policy is possible the most the Andrew Lansley reforms that became the 2012 Health high-profile area of government spending, and this isn’t And Social Care Act. He achieved this largely by ignor- surprising – the NHS is the one public service that we ing the market mechanisms of choice, competition and can all imagine ourselves needing to use in the future. clinical commissioning, that the act enshrined in law. IThis feels timely, too: the health bill in the Not only did he do that (largely unno- Queens’s Speech (the leaked text of which I “Stevens also ticed at the time), Stevens also twice won published back in February) promises some major twice won multi- multi-year increases in NHS funding dur- changes to how the NHS will operate. The biggest ing the period of public sector austerity, in of these is that the health secretary will explicitly year increases 2014 and 2019. His political acumen and be “taking back control” of NHS England, with in NHS funding understanding of the workings of White- the ability to issue operational directions and during austerity. hall were central to those achievements. intervene earlier in reconfiguration decisions. Sir Simon began his career in NHS man- There is A Lot Of Change coming in His understanding agement. He moved into politics as a special these sectors. This may not feel like reas- of Whitehall was adviser to Frank Dobson (New Labour’s first suring news for a civil service that has only central to this” health secretary); then to Dobson’s succes- recently emerged from the threat of a “hard sor Alan Milburn; and finally to Tony Blair in rain” from the PM’s former chief adviser Dominic Cum- Downing Street. Stevens was significantly influential on New mings. A persistent drizzle of change may be the best we Labour’s health reforms and spending increases, and on the can hope for, but worse forecasts are not unrealistic. reintroduction of market mechanisms, the national tariff and The Department of Health and Social Care will clearly be af- the creation of semi-autonomous NHS foundation trusts. fected, with the power balance between NHS England and every other body in the sector rebalanced back towards Victoria Street. The two Stevensisms The aim of New Labour’s NHS market mechanisms was less Towards social care reform (very, very slowly) ideological, and more about increasing NHS activity and capac- Social care is rising up the reform agenda, albeit with a level ity. This wasn’t just about the funding increase, though that was of political hesitancy and timidity that makes DHSC feel huge: 6% real-terms year-on-year cash growth from 2000 to 2010. more like the Department For Health But Social Care. Long waiting lists developed over the 1990s meant that aver- The prime minister’s promise in his first speech in Down- age waits for some operations were 18 months or more when New ing Street to “fix social care once and for all” has not yet Labour came to power. To achieve the party’s promise of reducing been transferred into legislation, with the Queen’s Speech this to 18 weeks, the NHS needed greatly-increased activity from instead saying that proposals on social care reform “will providers. Tariff payments were designed to incentivise this. be brought forward”, although legislation is planned to al- Measurement of performance and waiting times was taken low the NHS to “innovate and embrace technology”. seriously by the PM’s Delivery Unit, and the NHS Modernisation We hear that the PM has become attracted: this time, not to pole- Agency was created to stop the sharing of best practice from be- dancing, grant-winning tech entrepreneur Jennifer Arcuri, but rath- ing optional. Combined with a new publication of explicit perfor- er to the Dilnot Commission’s 2011 proposals for social care reform. mance “league tables” and some elements of patient choice, this

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14-15 CSW306 Cowper opinion.indd 14 12/05/2021 15:58:35 ❯ OPINION COLUMNIST ❮ OPINION

Front and centre Simon Stevens at the London y NHS Nightingale Hospital. The NHS chief exec has taken on an increasingly prominent role in health policy

amounted to Stevensism Mark One. It achieved many of its aims, pulsory tendering of NHS contracts was to be dropped. as independent evaluation by the Kings Fund think tank showed. His seven years in charge have been remark- Stevensism Mark Two was born into a very different public able. Stevens’s political skills and peerless command sector. Although he won the NHS slightly preferential finan- of his brief, combined with strong media presenta- cial treatment, the period from 2010 to 2019 was the slowest tional ability, left him seemingly above the fray. sustained period of financial growth in the NHS’s history. His tenure has not been without turbulence or criticism. Returning in 2014 from running UnitedHealthcare in the The highly Stevens-centric control-freakery and focus of US, having been invited to apply for the job by then-PM Da- NHS England prompted accusations that he is not a team vid Cameron, Sir Simon saw the writing on the wall: that the player. The lost Brexit referendum removed the Blairite- market mechanisms the 2012 Lansley reforms proposed turbo- loving Cameron and Osborne, who valued him highly. charging did not stand a chance of working. This was due to a Sir Simon’s unabashed use of the 2012 act’s legal in- lack of funding, capacity and, critically, workforce training. dependence for NHS England also annoyed both current A change of approach was needed. Sir Simon ac- health secretary Matt Hancock and the prime minister, Boris cordingly preached the virtue of greater coop- Johnson, at various points. (Both had, of course, voted for it eration and integration between the sectors of the at every reading). Thus we can understand the new health NHS, and between the NHS and social care. bill’s plans for the secretary of state to “take back control”. The aim for all NHS Trusts to acquire foundation status However, explicitly taking back control is not with- was dropped. The purchaser-provider split of “commission- out risks, with the current NHS waiting list is at its long- ing” was essentially redundant. Local “integrated care systems” est since records began. It will be, in the language of Jay were invented (with no statutory basis whatsoever). Planning and Lynn’s classic comedy Yes, Minister, a “courageous” of the NHS system was very definitely back: RIP the market. move for our current crop of ministers – at health, the Treas- By 2019, the outsourcing of health policymaking to Ste- ury and No.10 – explicitly to take away the “buck stops vens was so complete that the government asked him to here” sign from the executive offices of NHS England. come up with proposals for legislation. He obliged. Inte- grated care systems were to become real by legislation. Com- Andy Cowper is the editor of Health Policy Insight

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14-15 CSW306 Cowper opinion.indd 15 12/05/2021 15:58:37 Edited by ❯ DIGITAL & DATA Sam Trendall

Produced in association with CSW’s sister title PublicTechnology GOVERNMENT’S £300M AMAZON PACKAGE

Since a public sector-wide agreement first”, but “cloud eventually” now with AWS was introduced six months seems well within reach. The One Government Cloud Strat- ago, departments have signed deals egy, put in place last year, aims to worth hundreds of millions with the provide further fuel for adoption. The cloud firm.Sam Trendall reports strategy, which followed discussions between officials and a range of ven- dors, aims to foster a more joined-up n 2013, the Cabinet Office intro- approach to cloud across government. duced the “cloud first” policy, which As part of the plan, the Crown Com- mandates that, during procurement mercial Service has signed memoranda of processes, all central government understanding with some of the biggest entities must “fully evaluate” the use providers of cloud hosting and software of public cloud environments before – IBM, Oracle, HPE, Google, Microsoft looking at alternatives. Doing so and UKCloud – that was also “strongly recommended” will offer discounts and “CCS anticipates for the rest of the public sector. other benefits for all In the eight years since, the public public sector bodies by, commercial benefits Isector has had a variable relationship effectively, treating them well in excess of with cloud computing and, two years ago, as a single customer. £50m over the next it was even announced that cloud first Last – but certainly was set to be replaced with “more ap- not least – to sign an MoU three years” Crown propriate guidance” as it had “become was Amazon Web Ser- Commercial Service apparent that one size does not fit all”. vices, which announced in The longstanding policy was ul- November that it had agreed a three-year timately kept on and, bit by bit, the arrangement with CCS dubbed the One collective move away from on-site Government Value Agreement (OGVA). infrastructure has continued. In addition to the savings offered Perhaps not quite “cloud on the vendor’s services, AWS has

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16-17 CSW306 PT amazon web services.indd 16 11/05/2021 15:52:51 ❮ CLOUD SERVICES DIGITAL & DATAEdited by ❯ DIGITAL & DATA ❯ DIGITAL & DATA Sam Tredall

Produced in association with CSW’s sister title Public Technology

also committed to providing cloud how this will be achieved. computing training to 6,000 civil serv- Hayman says that, over ants via a “digital skills fund”. the last decade, more than 150 Chris Hayman, the firm’s UK public firms on the G-Cloud frame- sector director, says: “We are working work have “used AWS to help with OGVA customers to build custom- them deliver their own services ised training programmes that are free – worth more £1.3bn – to the of charge for staff and are designed to government”. More than half provide them with cloud expertise and of these were SMEs, he adds. skills including architecting in the cloud, “The OGVA is designed developer and systems operations, secu- to be ‘channel neutral’, in that rity, big data and machine learning.” customers are able to access its In the meantime, those customers benefits whether they contract have been quick to start taking directly with AWS or via one of advantage of the cost savings the members of the AWS Partner Net- provided by the agreement. work, many of whom are SMEs,” Hayman Since the introduction of says. “The choice of whether to contract the arrangement, AWS has directly with AWS or via a partner is for been awarded new three-year our customers to make – experience sug- contracts with the Home Office gests that when a customer chooses to (£120m), the Foreign, Common- contract for AWS services via a partner, wealth and Development Office it’s usually because the partner is bring- (£2m), the Department for Work ing additional services or value that AWS and Pensions (£57m), HM Rev- Westminster tube station doesn’t offer; for example, undertaking was rebranded in 2017 enue and Customs (£94m), HM as ‘Webminster’ Station bespoke software development work.” Land Registry (£4.5m), the Driv- during a campaign In addition to the potential implica- er and Vehicle Licensing Agen- sponsored by Amazon tions for SMEs, another frequently-aired cy (£6.74m), the Ministry of Jus- concern about the rise of AWS is that – tice (£23.9m), and Companies House (£5m). Neither government nor AWS has put with so many of the biggest departments In many cases, these replaced in- a figure on the level of discount available signing major, long-term deals with the cumbent arrangements with months or via the OGVA, but a CCS spokesperson company – government is becoming years left to run; HMRC’s deal super- told CSW that the improved terms would standardised on the vendor’s platform. seded a contact signed with AWS as add up to tens of millions of pounds saved Asked about the implications of Ama- recently as September 2020 – two months over the course of the deal’s lifetime. zon’s large and ever-growing footprint, before the OGVA was introduced. “Many existing customers have retested CCS tells CSW it remains committed The DWP was a launch partner of the their contracts to check value for money to promoting choice for public sector public sector-wide commercial arrange- and ended up awarding contracts that customers, with the spokesperson say- ment, entering into a new cloud-hosting include OGVA benefits,” they said. “CCS ing that “it’s important to note that there contract with AWS on 1 December 2020. anticipates commercial benefits well in are a number of other cloud MoUs… This replaced a deal that had been sched- excess of £50m over the next three years.” all of [which were] an outcome of the uled to run for another eight months. The procurement agency added One Government Cloud Strategy”. “The contract is currently not deliv- that, in light of the arrangements put “Contracting authorities have the ering best value for money and DWP in place with AWS and six of its cloud power to decide who to contract with, and looked to find a replacement with im- rivals, similar public-sector wide agree- more than 5,000 suppliers were awarded proved discounts, which has been devel- ments with major suppliers may follow. places on G-Cloud 12, with 91% of them oped through Cabinet Office’s OGVA,” “We do anticipate more MoUs in the SMEs, offering a wide range of choice the contract award notice says. future as they deliver commercial ben- for potential customers,” they added. DWP, and the other major departments efits to the public sector which would not “MoUs standardise pricing for to have renegotiated their AWS deals, form otherwise have been possible to quantify the whole public sector, making sure the second of two tiers of the agreement or achieve,” the spokesperson said. that customers can get the best deal which, according to AWS, is designed to en- for their procurement decisions.” able “larger organisations already using the Small change? With £300m and counting having been cloud… [to] maximise benefits from their ex- A stated aim of the OGVA is “help- spent in less than six months, it would isting cloud environment, with participants ing more SMEs to take part in seem that many in government are happy benefiting from a new pricing structure”. public sector contracts”. enough with the deal they are getting. The first tier, meanwhile, offers train- Given that the £300m-plus of deals And, when the time comes for others to ing and guidance to help organisations listed above were all signed directly with relet their IT contracts, the cloud may – “at the beginning of their cloud journey”. AWS, it may not be immediately obvious finally – be the first place they visit.

publictechnology.net | | May 2021 | 17

16-17 CSW306 PT amazon web services.indd 17 11/05/2021 15:53:13 COVER INTERVIEW ❯ SHERIN AMINOSSEHE

Sherin Aminossehe is director of infrastructure and race champion at the Ministry of Defence. She tells Beckie Smith about the MoD estate, drawing in lockdown, and why returning to the private sector wasn’t the epiphany she expected. Photo by Paul Heartfield THE HITCHHIKER’S HOMECOMING

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18-21 CSW306 Sherin Aminossehe cover interview.indd 18 12/05/2021 16:01:18 hen the first lockdown came, around the country doing site visits. an epiphany – I expected decisions to be Sherin Aminossehe began to But the Ministry of Defence’s director taken faster. But maybe it was my Cabinet draw the places the pandemic of infrastructure says it could have been Office conditioning that actually, you don’t prevented people from visit- “an awful lot worse”. Because her directo- realise how certain parts of government ing. Having always drawn for rate is dispersed around the country, staff are really, really fast paced,” she says. herself,W she made an offer to her Twitter had some practice at working remotely, She hadn’t previously appreciated, following: “Name a place that you can’t go which helped. Aminossehe has had to for example, government’s ability to due to Covid-19 and if I can do it justice balance her work with homeschooling make decisions about “relatively large I’ll draw it for you.” She was touched her young son, and the days have be- amounts of money relatively quickly”. and surprised when the requests came come “a lot longer” – “but at least I didn’t “It might not feel like that at the time. rolling in: The Royal Courts of Justice; start [this job] in lockdown,” she adds. But then when you go on to the pri- the back streets of Essaouira in Mo- By the time lockdown came, Ami- vate sector and you’re in your third rocco; East Street Market in Walworth. nossehe was around six months into her investment appraisal committee about Clearly, her message resonated. current job overseeing the MoD’s infra- whether £2m needs to be spent…” “Sometimes we don’t realise it’s the small structure and estates programmes – a But the bigger issue was that – while things that are really special to us until job she refers to as “lego with attitude”. she doesn’t deny a £1bn development is a we can’t have them anymore,” she says. August 2019 marked her return to the civil “really, really big deal” – some of the work “I thought, I’ll put up a request and service after a stint in the private sector. began to feel “quite two dimensional”. maybe two or three people – if I’m lucky Just over a year earlier, she had left a “Because actually, all the other – might want something. Within the first job she “absolutely loved” as head of the things that we take for granted in gov- day I had 20 requests, and it kept on grow- Government Property Unit in the Cabinet ernment – in terms of policy, links with ing. So I continued drawing for about 134 Office. She had taken a high-flying job at a socio-economics and how it impacts days.” Soon, people were offering to make multinational construction, property and people on a much more profound ba- charitable donations to say thank you. infrastructure company, where she wanted sis, rather than how they just use their She decided to direct them to SSAFA, to spend more time on delivery after such development and so on – is not really a charity that helps members of the a strategy-focused public-sector role. part of the day job, and it’s left to some- armed forces, their families and veterans. Aminossehe had worked extensively in body else. And to a certain extent, for The response to Aminossehe’s drawings the private sector before, including as an me, it became quite transactional.” has been so great that she has compiled urban designer and as vice-president of Complexity has always been impor- them into a book, Road Untravelled, to be a global architecture firm. On leaving the tant to Aminossehe, a trained architect released this autumn in aid of the charity. Cabinet Office, she wrote an article head- who was drawn to the field because After drawing everyone else’s lock- lined A private sector hitchhiker’s guide to of the scale and intricacy of urban de- down no-gos, CSW wonders which the civil service for CSW – so she definitely sign. And, she says, “government is place Aminossehe misses most. “What hadn’t expected to be back so soon. almost that ultimate complexity.” I miss is less about place and more “I realised going back into the pri- “And it’s about the difference you about feelings,” she says. “I’ll see a really vate sector – whilst the salary is lovely make,” she adds. “You do make a dif- busy, bustling scene in central London – I really missed a lot of the things to do ference to people’s lives by creating on TV where people are interacting with government and the civil service. a better quality of public space and normally, there’s no facemasks, people You don’t realise the level of complexity built environment, but it’s not really go into a restaurant without thinking and scale that you deal with on a daily the same. And I really missed that.” there’s a national pandemic. I miss that basis until you go outside,” she says. Something that stuck in her normality and the buzz around it.” She found working in government had mind while she was away from gov- The last year must have been chal- completely changed her perspective. ernment was her work on the after- lenging, then, for someone who is used “I was expecting going back to the pri- math of the Grenfell Tower tragedy to working in a busy office and travelling vate sector to be, I suppose, a bit more of shortly before she left in 2017. She was working on Grenfell “almost 24/7” for about three months, attending Cobra meetings and briefings with then-prime minister Theresa May. She says that experience imprinted on her an understanding of how policies can impact people in a way civil servants “I realised going back into the can miss when they move between departments every couple of years. private sector – whilst the salary “If you move from one technical area to another, you don’t always see some of the unintended consequences of things is lovely – I really missed a lot of that have happened. And it’s ultimately where you see that as government, we the things to do with government” have a responsibility to regulate and legislate and make sure the wider indus- tries who use our standards are using them in the way that they are meant

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18-21 CSW306 Sherin Aminossehe cover interview.indd 19 12/05/2021 16:01:20 COVER INTERVIEW ❯ SHERIN AMINOSSEHE

to. And you see that there need to be checks and balances across the system.”

f Aminossehe’s last job wasn’t complex enough, that’s not the case I for this one. There is, she puts it simply, “an awful lot going on”. For one, her directorate is finalising a new strategy for defence infrastructure that will consider, among other things, how to support progress towards government’s net- zero goal. Then there’s the defence estate optimisation programme, which aims to ensure the MoD has the right accommodation and training facilities. And the government’s recent integrated review of foreign, development and defence policy set out the capabilities the MoD should have in future and created a “template” for the infrastructure to support those capabilities, Aminossehe says. “This is a railway station in Melbourne, She points out that armed forces requested by a fellow civil servant who is Aus- equipment and combat aircraft are only tralian. That place had been a really important useful if they are surrounded by the right we are responsible for latency, et cetera. part of his growing up because it’s where he infrastructure. “I always say: concrete and So it becomes much more pertinent.” would usually meet friends when he was a infrastructure’s sexy. You can have as many But Aminossehe says those days are teenager, go to places when he was older, and F-35bs as you want, but if you don’t have behind the department, now it has greater meet family as he grew up. He hadn’t been a runway, they won’t land anywhere.” financial backing from the Treasury. able to go back to Melbourne for a bit of time The department is also mindful of Ahead of last year’s Spending Review, and that was a symbol of his life in Australia.” the link between the quality of infrastruc- the MoD got a cash boost adding £24bn ture and buildings, and recruitment and to its coffers for the next four years. ment’s creation of the infrastructure and retention of staff, she says – but it hasn’t Aminossehe also says the MoD is getting project delivery profession – has reduced always had the financial backing of the a grip on the way it manages contracts with its reliance on contractors. That drive has Treasury it has needed. In 2016 – the year outsourcers – another area that has been included building up commercial skills so the estates programme kicked off – the criticised by the NAO and other watchdogs. the department can not only handle indi- National Audit Office said funding would Unsurprisingly given her own experience vidual contracts better, but also “make sure be a “huge challenge”. It came after working outside government, Aminossehe that the procurement strategy is right”. years of budget constraints had forced is a great advocate of drawing on the private the MoD to take short-term cost-cutting sector where it’s useful and effective to do minossehe is also race champion for the measures at the expense of longer-term so. “I very firmly believe that the private MoD – an organisation that she admits savings, the watchdog said at the time. sector and public sector can have a good Adoes not have the most welcoming im- Aminossehe acknowledges the effect relationship, if they are open to actually age to all communities, and is not especially austerity had on estates across government. understanding each other’s needs,” she says. racially diverse. Does she think the depart- “Because our estate is really, really substan- But she says a drive by the department ment has a long way to go to change that? tial, you see that impact a lot more. And over the last few years to develop and retain “MoD has a certain reputation in terms also, because we own a lot of our estate… specialist skills – as well as the govern- of what we do: people probably think about war; there are particular areas which we have engaged over the past couple of decades that would probably make certain groups or communities more hesitant in terms of joining defence,” she says. Understanding and overcoming those perceptions is not something that will change overnight. “Concrete and infrastructure’s sexy. Part of what she wants to communi- cate is that the department is “not about dropping bombs on a country – it’s about You can have as many F-35bs as defence, it’s about security, it’s about making the United Kingdom a better place”. She you want, but if you don’t have a hopes having more diverse role models in place will help to change those perceptions. The department meanwhile runs a runway, they won’t land anywhere” range of outreach activities, including some in schools, to try and encourage a more diverse range of people to work there.

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18-21 CSW306 Sherin Aminossehe cover interview.indd 20 12/05/2021 16:01:20 Aminossehe – who was born in Iran – recalls that a couple of her mentors even warned her off taking the director job, “saying ‘it’s full of white men of a certain age, you won’t like it, it’s really traditional and they always do things in a certain way’”. Did that factor into her decision to take it – that she would be one less “white man of a certain age” in a senior position? She bursts out laughing. “I’ve worked throughout the whole of my career in a male-dominated industry. As an architect, where I started, “A lady asked me to draw her old parents’ only about 12% of qualified architects were house in Aldeburgh. Her mother had died women. It’s marginally higher now, but not of dementia so the house was no longer in by much; in construction, the number of the family. She used to always go to Ald- senior women is lower. And in property…” number of really helpful conversations”. borough on holidays, but because of lock- She says while she has found the MoD Unfortunately, those conversations down, she wasn’t able to do so. And she welcoming, and her directorate is one of have not always gone smoothly. Last June, felt a real disconnect with her parents and the more diverse ones, there is more to be The Times reported that senior manage- her family. So that was really, really special done elsewhere in the department. But she ment had taken disciplinary action after for her. And I found that very moving.” says she has seen a “real willingness” from “deeply offensive” comments were made senior leaders – both civilian and military on an all-staff Zoom call that addressed people who actually fundamentally don’t – to do that work, and to signal that discrimi- – among other things – the department’s understand it, because their experience natory behaviour will not be tolerated. zero-tolerance policy on discrimination. from where they are is quite limited.” “Personally, I’ve seen the culture change Aminossehe was part of the call, along Like Lovegrove, Aminossehe says these over the past year,” she adds. The Black with then-permanent secretary Sir Ste- comments are completely unacceptable. Lives Matter movement, while it showed phen Lovegrove and General Sir Nick “But also, we firmly believe as a depart- that “actually, we could be Carter, chief of ment that you don’t close down commu- doing better” on diversity and “This is a church spire in a small vil- the defence staff. nications because of a limited number of inclusivity, was a catalyst for “a lage in Lebanon which was designed “It was basically voices who may not understand or have by somebody’s great grandfather. talking about what issues with certain things,” she adds. She was used to being able to see we expect [from That leads her back to why she values that and being close to her family staff]. But also her role as race champion. “The more you and lockdown had prevented that. saying, ‘this is talk about it, the more you normalise [talk- It’s quite a simple drawing, it didn’t what it can be like, ing about] this kind of thing, some people take that long to do. Sometimes we for people within will either decide that this isn’t the place for don’t realise it’s the small things defence, when them and they will move on – or they’ll real- that are really special to us until things like the ise, ‘actually, I was wrong’… Only by continu- we can’t have them anymore.” Black Lives Matter ing that dialogue and not shying away from protests happen it can you actually change those attitudes.” and this is how people feel. And Conversations about diversity certainly it’s important to be open when we seem to be happening, with cabinet sec- talk about these sorts of matters.’” retary Simon Case and civil service chief Then came an anonymous operating officer Alex Chisholm signal- Q&A that included some ques- ling that they want it to be a priority across tions Aminossehe describes as government. Many who have gone before “not what we expect of people in them have said the same – but Aminossehe defence, in any shape or form”. says she does think there has been a According to a stern memo sent change for the better in the last few years. by Lovegrove to staff after the “Maybe I’m an eternal optimist, and call, they included comments you have to be as an architect for so long. “conflating ‘indigenous’ with Where I do feel that it’s been different to white Britons [and] claims the time when I was previously in govern- that any focus on diversity ment, is I think there is real action behind was at odds with fairness”. the words. I don’t think it’s going to sud- Aminossehe says: “The denly change tomorrow – it is something issue about race which is, that needs dealing with sensitively, and I think, always very worry- there’s lots of things that need to be put into ing and upsetting and sad is: place before we start seeing real change. there are some people who feel “But it’s something that we have that their positions might be to build on and not just give up on be- threatened if we have a more cause we think that we can’t make the diverse community. Or there’s world a better place tomorrow.”

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18-21 CSW306 Sherin Aminossehe cover interview.indd 21 12/05/2021 16:01:23 FEATURE ❯ DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

rders are the backbone of life in the armed forces. Increasing digital skills in defence Taking and giving instructions defines priori- has been named among the ties and hierarchy in the military perhaps more government’s top policy priorities. than any other sphere of life. So when a digital transformation programme in the Ministry of Richard Johnstone speaks to the Defence aimed to move the department’s IT team making it happen and digital teams from being order-takers to rule-makers, it was a major shift in approach. The transformation was spearheaded by the creation of the MoD’s Defence Digital organisation, which in December 2019 brought together a number of previously dispa- Orate teams that worked on IT across both the department and the individual forces to create an organisation with around 2,400 personnel including military, civil servants and contractors. Headed by the MoD’s chief information officer, Charlie Forte,

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22-25 CSW306 public tech_defence.indd 22 11/05/2021 15:46:45 Defence Digital is intended to coordinate “I think we’re still a challenger not an requirements across the forces and the incumbent,” he says. “I think with all digi- MoD through supplying IT to 200,000 tal, whether in business or in government, users – including on global military opera- you’ve had decades of being very much a tions – and integrating strategy, planning supporting role. The chief information of- and performance management. It also fi cer would not be at the top of the hierar- leads on defensive cyber strategy and chy, but would report to the chief risk offi c- capability development, giving it a key role er or the chief fi nancial offi cer or whoever. in protecting the UK from cyber attacks “But just like in business, you’re sud- on a whole host of military infrastructure. denly seeing CIOs and other digital roles CSW spoke to three senior fi gures on the main board because [organisations] in Defence Digital: Christine Maxwell, realise they need that advice and that director of cyber defence and risk; Ma- Maj Gen Tom Copinger-Symes leadership role, not just a supporting role. jor General Tom I think we’re absolutely Copinger-Symes, on the same path.” director of strategy This means Forte, the and military digitisa- “We’ve always thought we’re so MoD’s CIO, sits on the tion; and Caroline department’s executive Bellamy, the chief data special, only 20% the same as committee and leads offi cer, to fi nd out more others. If we can flip that round, part of UKStratCom, the about the creation of MoD’s strategic com- the organisation. we can move a lot faster” mand. Add in the fact Maxwell immedi- that Copinger-Symes, ately highlighted the Maj Gen Tom Copinger-Symes Maxwell and Bellamy’s importance of boost- roles are all new and the ing digital’s role in the magnitude of change defence hierarchy. focus on “collaboration in the language of becomes clearer. “Previously we were mainly a deliv- what outcome we’re trying to achieve”. “It’s not always easy,” Copinger-Symes ery organisation that took orders from She adds: “From my perspective, com- says. “The rule-making is not always other parts of defence in terms of pro- ing in as a chief data offi cer, it’s about mak- welcome, and, of course, it’s not just lay- grams and capabilities,” Maxwell says. ing the data work for the organisation in a ing down the law. It’s working collabo- “Now Charlie has created something compliant, secure, digital way. That wasn’t ratively with the rest of defence to work that looks like an IT leadership team present and is now fi rmly embedded.” out the best way to deliver an impact.” that you can see in the private sector.” Such an approach is vital given This requires a mindset change That allows the digital team to take the military’s digital capabilities are across defence, he says, to realise that on more of a cross-force leadership in the spotlight now more than ever. “defence is not unique in government”, role, Maxwell says. “Now rather than Improving digital and data across and that it can learn and share digital being an order-taker, Defence Digital security, defence, development and and technology development and in- is instead looking at what IT could be foreign policy is as a priority in the sights with other parts of government. in defence, and bringing all the right recently-published Integrated Review. “We’ve always thought we’re so spe- people into the roles to actually drive “This will need to be underpinned cial, you know: that we’re 80% special and change out across the organisation.” by investment in next-generation secure only 20% the same [as others],” he says. Copinger-Symes agrees with Maxwell’s digital, data and technology platforms, “If we can ﬂ ip that round and recognise order-taking versus rule-making distinc- skills and a strong focus on improving we’re probably 80% the same as many tion, and highlights the need to “build a knowledge and information manage- other government departments in the more connected defence enterprise”. ment practices,” the review says. “We will national security area, then maybe we get “So we still take orders, [meaning that] focus on the responsible use of new data more credit for the 20% where we really we still fulfi l customer requirements, but platforms, digital tools and participative need to be diff erent. But if we can be more we are starting to be able to lay down the processes to support policy-making and similar, then we can move a lot faster.” rules of the road, so that there is some improve inclusivity and transparency.” For example, he says the MoD’s coherence to what the navy wants to do, However, developing a position where tendency to develop its own tech or what the army wants to do, or what a digital function can set requirements and polices, rather than adopt cross- the corporate department wants to do,” regulations across fi ve military domains government ones, “slows us down”. he says. “And then we work collabora- – air, land, sea, space and cyber – and “They make our lives more diffi cult, tively with the rest of defence and build within those well-established military rather than helping us and that’s got to a more connected defence enterprise.” structures, is not something that hap- be the wrong way to do it,” he says of Bellamy says Defence Digital is now “a pens instantly. Copinger-Symes acknowl- the policies. “So we want to be a little much more digitally orientated organisa- edges that he and his colleagues “are still less special, because it will help us.” tion” than its predecessor parts, with a building” a presence across defence. However, this remains a work in

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22-25 CSW306 public tech_defence.indd 23 11/05/2021 15:46:46 FEATURE ❯ DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

The distinct approaches across forces Security Group in the Cabinet Office as developed, he says, because they previ- an example of an area where MoD skills ously offered a strategic advantage. “And can be more widely applied. “It is about many of them still do – there are many how can we, as a big department, actu- things not to throw away,” Copinger- ally help the wider society and strategy Symes says. “But equally, sometimes across UK government?” she says. “I think we just need to play nicer in the sandpit there’s more we can do in that space and together, because that will give a stra- we’re now set up so we can actually help.” Action stations Recruitment at Waterloo tegic advantage in a different era.” Bellamy agrees that she has encoun- One such area where collaboration tered “tremendous openness” to a more in- progress, not only in the MoD’s rela- has really taken hold is in Maxwell’s brief tegrated approach. “The door’s really open, tionship with the rest of government, of cyber defence and risk, where she says I would say, so it’s really welcome,” she says. but also within service branches. there is a recognition by the single forces And, like Maxwell, she feels that “I’m a very proud soldier and the army that collaboration is now at a premium. historic rivalries are being overcome by a has a proud and ancient history, and we “They can see that to really address recognition of the skills that are needed. do things differently from the navy and the cyber threat, we have to do things “I come in as neutral to our five forces, air force,” he says. “But if we can find that in a joined-up way. And we can’t all and data is agnostic to all of them,” Bel- we share far more than what divides us, be doing different things: we have to lamy says. “I can say that I’m not another that makes us much stronger. And the have a strategy, we have to work on the tribe; I’m in an enabling capability that same with our national security col- team priorities and take it forward.” can leverage the strength of what each leagues, the same with wider government. She agrees with Copinger-Symes has to bring, and also work across them. “So I’m not going to pretend that it’s that the MoD’s work needs to be “much “The opportunity that we have through all sweetness and light, and that we’ve more joined up across Whitehall”, and Defence Digital is that those standards and all resolved every single difference.” gives her own work with the Government rules of the road come with adherence, but

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22-25 CSW306 public tech_defence.indd 24 11/05/2021 15:46:49 they also come with huge opportunity, be- just doesn’t happen by happenstance.” cause then increasingly we’re an integrated Based on his service background, whole force and our roles are actually a key Copinger-Symes says part of the reason to help us unlock tremendous integration.” for this may have been that defence is Maxwell says Defence Digital has so used to using intelligence in plan- “won that argument”, while acknowledg- ning and operations that “we thought ing she has “created a lot more work for we understood how to use data”. colleagues in the single services, be- “Speak to any commander in the cause I’m trying to drive coherence”. army, navy, or air force, ask whether “It is creating some tension, some- intelligence is really important, and times good tensions and good debate they will say, ‘yes, it’s fundamen- that we can have about this being the tal to decision making,’” he says. right approach and how Caroline Bellamy “That was, on the one we are going to do it,” hand, a great strength. she says. “Yes, it’s hard On the other hand, it was sometimes but I think a great weakness, in that the ship has turned and “Transforming is different we saw data-informed we’re driving forward.” decision making as just Copinger-Symes from running and operating, about intelligence.” describes dealing with but you can’t do the two things Like so much else in these diff erent bodies Defence Digital’s work, and roles across UK separately” Caroline Bellamy another mindset shift was defence – and the integra- needed. Operationally, tion with allies – as “prob- the military viewed intel- ably the most complex ligence “as something socio-technical thing in Western Europe”. Data revolution with a big red stamp on it that said ‘secret’ “The NHS is way bigger than us in Across this broad range of activities, this or ‘top secret’, and it had to be collected number of people, but in terms of endpoint means everything from deploying ma- at huge pain or cost or danger,” he says. devices, both operational technology and chine learning on cyber risk incidents in “Actually, data has exploded around us weapons systems, we’re dealing with an Maxwell’s portfolio, to using data analyt- in the current world and an awful lot of it, awesomely complex range of kit out there, ics tools to unlock insights in Bellamy’s. if treated properly, can be very helpful to at varying states of legacy,” he says. And it means the whole of the MoD inform a whole bunch of decisions, way The key rationale, then, for Defence and the wider forces prioritising digital beyond what we used to call intelligence. Digital is to allow the whole structure of and data in a way they have not done “So I think we thought we had data defence to become more nimble though historically – and in a way that can cracked in the form of intelligence, and we the use of technology, or for technol- help settle defence’s technical debt. probably need to refresh not only how we ogy not to restrict quick responses. “A lot of our data is locked up in create intelligence, but also look at a much “One of our big challenge is reducing legacy. We’ve got to free it to make those greater spread of data types to help inform some of the complication, and simplify- new things – AI or automation, autonomy, our decision making and then the other ing some of it,” Copinger-Symes says. or robotics – exciting,” Bellamy says. technological exploitations of data that Mention of these kinds of capabili- will come with automation and robotics.” ties can quickly lead to ideas about the Bellamy sums up the motto for De- future of combat that were not so long fence Digital as it prepares to publish its ago the realm of science fi ction, but Bel- strategy to drive forward its plans in detail. lamy says this kind of change to military “Our task where necessary is to break capacity must be conducted at the same down some of those historic things in the time as improving current operations. way that defence works,” she says. “But “Transforming is diff erent from run- we’re not driving the commonality we talk ning and operating, but you can’t do the about for the sake of it, we’re driving com- two things separately,” she says. “That’s monality because of the opportunity it pre- why it’s really important in this organisa- sents. It drives advantage at many levels.” tion that we are part of a huge delivery ve- Copinger-Symes agrees. “We are hicle of defence. The rules of the road and ultimately doing it to do what every- how we’re going to do delivery and run body else is, which is to speed us up,” and operate in cyber and digital services he says. “It will allow us to deliver for must be applied to the whole of defence. the nation more quickly, precisely, af- But we have got to focus on it, because fordably and sustainably in the fu- Christine Maxwell no kidding anyone, we haven’t focused ture, and do that in spite of our scale, on it. And we need to, because good data not be held back because of it.”

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22-25 CSW306 public tech_defence.indd 25 11/05/2021 15:46:51 INTERVIEW ❯ JOHN FITZPATRICK

LESSONS FROM A DIGITAL

John Fitzpatrick’s CAREER civil service career has gone from a Manchester benefits office to playing a key role in the MoD’s digital transformation. He relives the journey with Richard Johnstone

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26-29 CSW306 John Fitzpatrick interview.indd 26 12/05/2021 15:54:29 like housing benefit. “We moved from telling poor-performing organisations that they were poor performing, to trying and help them to improve,” he says. By this time, he was on a talent scheme within DWP, which led to a pro- igital and data ject to introduce data mining and match- is not just some- ing across the department, then a job thing with the advising on its first strategy. The transi- potential to tion to a digital career was complete. transform govern- “That was a really fast appointment services; it ment,” he recalls. “It got advertised and can also turbo- they needed somebody within days, charge careers. and because I was on the scheme, it So, at least, opened up that opportunity. So I took goes the story of the total cost of fraud to inform action. it and I started work on the strategy.” John Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick returned to DWP around Kevin Cunnington, who would go on to The Ministry of 2010 and wrote its fraud strategy, in lead the Government Digital Service, Defence’s director for digital engage- partnership with HM Revenue and then joined the department from Voda- ment has held a number of senior digital Customs, which crystallised this use of fone to lead the transformation itself. posts in government, across departments technology. “That was really shifting Reflecting on his career, Fitzpatrick Dincluding the Cabinet Office and the things from detection into prevention,” says he was first “gripped by digital” when Department for Work and Pensions. he says. “We’d seen that the level of writing the fraud and error strategy. Then But his career started, in his when Cunnington (now director gener- own words, “writing giros in a al of the International Government Ser- Manchester benefits centre as a vice, promoting the work of UK govern- college dropout”, after he saw the ment services across the world) came post advertised in a jobcentre. “There’s no in and developed the digital academy “I thought, ‘This is going to get to boost skills across the government, me some money for the time being way that I Fitzpatrick helped to run it, finding while I figure out what I actually do out about a whole new range of fields. with my life,’ aged 19,” he says. “It has would have Fitzpatrick explains: “Setting up the been a bit of a journey, I suppose.” imagined I digital academy, I was learning about Only a couple of weeks later, what new capabilities and new roles that I Fitzpatrick calls a “far more exciting would end up had never previously heard of – user- job” in fraud investigation came up, centred design, user research, product and he was soon working in the sector here when ownership, delivery management. that became “the anchor of my career”. I started” “They were all new to me, but when “In my early 20s, I realised I needed I started to meet some of the people to step up a little bit and I went to who were stood at the front of the study fraud management, which I did academy, they’ve done the ‘Blockbuster while I was working,” he says. “That then investment going into prevention was to Netflix’ conversion, and you then start enabled me to get some academic creden- nowhere near comparable to that in the to see a completely different world.” tials, start to go after some promotions.” financial sector. We also looked at how However, around the same time, DWP It was in this job that Fitzpatrick much these investigations cost to do and was writing off around £500m in Univer- became interested in the impact data the kind of outcomes that we’re getting sal Credit costs – a jarring contrast with and technology could have on ser- from them. We were spending quite a the potential Fitzpatrick could see. “We’d vice delivery. While working in fraud lot and not getting very much back, and had to write off quite a lot of money, investigations, he realised that “if we then started to pivot that approach.” used data and technology differently, By this point, Fitzpatrick had be- we could prevent a lot of fraud going gun to see the potential of digital, but through the door, rather than investi- it was a stint he spent as an inspec- gating it afterwards”. This work led to tor across the whole of the benefits a six-month loan to the National Fraud system, reporting for both central and Authority to work on a report analysing local government, that helped him realise that “organisations don’t always have the capability to do better”. This led to the creation of an internal consultancy within the DWP to help provide these skills across the public sector, particularly with local authorities, around the administration of things

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26-29 CSW306 John Fitzpatrick interview.indd 27 12/05/2021 15:54:30 INTERVIEW ❯ JOHN FITZPATRICK

because we’d not got it right first time on the technology side of UC,” he adds. This began to fuel some of Fitzpatrick’s frustrations with government transformation, which would eventually culminate in a spell outside the public sector. you do as a permanent staff member.” Digital in government needs to One such project was setting be funded in teams, he believes, not up a digital studio at the Minis- as projects “Those capabilities need try of Justice, where Fitzpatrick to be embedded in the organisa- said he had “an absolute blast”. tion, and matured in the same way “I was a fire starter – setting things up that a policy team does,” he says. and getting them going,” he says. “I like This opinion was crystallised when ing then-cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy to get in at the start of things and shape he became head of digital for Civil Heywood and civil service chief execu- them when they’re complex and thorny, Service Learning, which he felt was tive John Manzoni, he was unable to get and a lot of stuff needs to be figured out.” hindered by technology and fund- the money needed to make the digital Among the projects he worked on ing. “We were in an old platform that service a reality. “In the end we had to was a scheme to move prison records, wasn’t fit for purpose anymore. It shut down a team, because the funding previously stored in a data centre, into needed modernising,” he explains. wasn’t there. And that became a really the cloud, which both improved the data “We’d set out our ambition and we painful place to be. So I decided to try and reduced costs by more than 95%. needed to re-platform the service. It and do something different for a while.” Another service digitised pay- needed a couple of million quid spend- This “something different” was set- ments made to help some vulnerable ing on it at the time and we just couldn’t ting up a consultancy on digital projects. friends and relatives visit prisoners, secure the money. I was in a situation Despite being a risk, Fitzpatrick says it which had previously been paid using where, like an old secondhand car, gave him new skills and enabled him to giros – an echo to Fitzpatrick’s ear- it was breaking down every day.” focus more on delivery. “I was still work- lier career but which were now being He became so frustrated that, even ing around government as a contractor, phased out of the banking system. with the support of senior leaders includ- rather than as a civil servant. But there Another project focused on improving was less organisational noise, which enabled me to be more creative, and to focus more on delivery. I didn’t have the same expectation or level of commitment on the organisational elements that

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26-29 CSW306 John Fitzpatrick interview.indd 28 12/05/2021 15:54:30 digital services for probation services. “With my colleagues in Sheffield in MoJ, it felt like I’d really found my mojo there, it was almost like a start-up mentality,” Fitzpatrick recalls. “We’re “Look at where we were in 2014 with delivering at a ridiculous pace, and the Universal Credit, for example,” he says. ingredients for success were empower- “That was being reported as a failed IT ment, freedoms and flexibilities to be programme, but look at what DWP has able to figure things out, and then focus and it emotionally connects for me, in just achieved in response to Covid – being the technology on business priorities.” the same way that the justice system did, able to absorb millions of extra claims, Setting up his own business matured albeit is a different context altogether.” and a frictionless digital journey to get him. “I’d been literally a career civil He says MoD chief information of- access to that benefit. And the same servant, so I’d got to the point where I ficer Charlie Forte has made big strides with HMRC and the furlough scheme. thought a bit of time out would prob- in getting the department’s senior “They’ve delivered internal capability ably do me good. But I definitely didn’t officials and politicians engaged in a to respond to a crisis, and deliver services think I was never going to come back plan to revamp the department’s digi- to users in a way that they just couldn’t or anything like that,” Fitzpatrick says. tal capability. The departmental board have done five years ago. There’s a level of “I was not frustrated to the point hears from tech people every month maturity and the ability to pivot and deliv- where I thought this is a bad place to to ensure they have “greater aware- er things that couldn’t have been thought work or anything – I’m always apprecia- ness and understanding and access to of. And there’s so many other things – like tive of the development and opportunities a different world really”, he notes. doctor’s appointments taking place over the civil service has provided to me. I’m the internet – that have been transformed nothing but grateful for the opportuni- hey are not the only ones in a and the civil service and the public sector ties it’s given me throughout my career, different world. The coronavi- has been able to respond to brilliantly.” and the basis from which it enabled me Trus pandemic has also thrust us, He is confident that this progress will to leave and succeed outside of it.” however unwillingly, into a situation not be lost once we get to what we would Fitzpatrick admits that he wanted to unimaginable only months ago. previously have called normal. “I think stay at the MoJ longer than he did, but Fitzpatrick started his MoD role the environment is different in govern- such is the life of a contractor. “By defini- as the UK entered its first lockdown, ment [now],” he says, highlighting a tion, it’s a short term position”, he says. in March 2020, and says the way the number of appointments in senior roles, But he learned from his MoJ experi- government has responded to the pan- including Joanna Davinson as executive ence what he wanted in his next move. demic shows how much progress has director at the Central Digital and Data “When you start to do your own due been made in digital government. Office in the Cabinet Office, and Tom diligence for your next move, you’re Read as chief executive of the Govern- looking at: where’s the ministerial comment Digital Service. “They’re fully aware mitment? Where’s the sustainable of the need to fund teams and the funding? Where’s the political priority legacy issues and all the things that that is going to back this and deliver have raised their priorities for govern- in this climate, and where’s the board ment to solve,” he says. “And they’re and the senior leadership team in “I was learning being led by some of the best people. terms of enabling it to happen?” about new I think the digital, data and technol- Fitzpatrick took on his digital ogy profession is maturing now.” engagement director role as part of capabilities Defence, he acknowledges, “is the Defence Digital transformation less mature in digital delivery” than scheme, where he has been “energised and roles that some other Whitehall departments, and driven by a great mission” – to I had never but Fitzpatrick is confident that improve services for those in the mili- with investment and commitment, tary. Those range from the technology previously “you’ll see rapid acceleration”. needed for military missions to check- And after a career that has been ing payslips and booking annual leave. heard of – taken over by digital government, what “The wonderful people who dedi- user-centred advice would he give to someone enter- cate their lives to the military abso- ing DWP as he did as a school leaver? lutely deserve the best services,” he design, user “I’d say be curious. You’ve heard the says. “You add all of the ingredients story; there’s no way that I would have research, imagined I would end up here when I product started, but the civil service is a place that is absolutely full of opportunity. ownership, “Grasping those opportunities, looking sideways at things that are delivery interesting, and experimenting – on management” digital and your own personal development – are key. I think there’s always things that we can each learn.”

civilserviceworld.com | May 2021 | 29

26-29 CSW306 John Fitzpatrick interview.indd 29 12/05/2021 15:54:30 FEATURE ❯ JOB-SHARES

needs. Gemma Diamond and Mark Rob- erts at Audit Scotland decided to fl ex their usual arrangements to spread work across the week, so that they each had blocks of time available for home schooling. Fran Oram and Sophie Langdale, directors at DfE, talk of how when exhaus- tion hit, they were able to cover for each other. “We could [each] sense when our partner needed support or a break and we knew the support would be recipro- cated. Together we were far stronger in keeping up resolve in relentless times than we would have been individually.” Joanna West and Alex Hurst are directors at the Home O ce who were asked to cover a short-term director general role. They highlight the value of the job share to the organisation, in terms of joint problem solving, mutual coaching, and getting non-stop energetic commitment from the partnership. We have many more examples from across the civil service and beyond, at all levels and in all types of role. Job sharing isn’t an option for eve- JOB SHARE REFLECTIONS ryone. The economics don’t always work, and some temperaments aren’t suited to sharing control. Our observation, though, is that more people IN THE TIME OF COVID would like to job share, if they felt the climate was receptive. This includes Two former directors general – now leadership an increasing number of men. The key advice to recruiting manag- coaches – share their observations of job-share ers is to look for partners of equal ability partnerships in demanding times and motivation who are committed to investing in making the relationship work, ave you noticed the striking networks to focus on a challenging issue. and can adapt to the changing needs of resilience of job-share partner- Tessa Gri ths and Sarah Maclean the role. The partnership may last for one ships over the last year? We have share a director role at the Depart- job, or it may go on for many years: either watched them balance demand- ment for Education, implementing the way, job sharing has moved from being ing civil service roles with all the rapid coronavirus testing programme for a novelty to a proven way of deploying Hother stresses of lockdown, and keep universities and schools. The pace and leadership talent well. And we now know their equilibrium to a remarkable extent. profi le of the rollout was such that shar- it can make a real di erence to resilience. When we asked partners what kept ing the job brought built-in resilience As another job-share partnership them resilient, they were very consistent and problem solving. It also meant they said to us: “The two of us are some of in their answers. They talked about the could split the necessary weekend cover the calmest people around. That’s be- relief of knowing they could hand over between them and still spend time with cause we can download and talk things to a trusted partner at some point in the their families. They say: “Job sharing has through in a non-judgemental space.” enabled us to share the chal- “More people would like to job lenges as well as the successes share, if they felt the climate – we don’t think we would have made nearly as much progress ABOUT THE AUTHORS was receptive. This includes without a job-share arrange- Hilary Douglas and Peter Shaw are former an increasing number of men” ment, which has now seen us directors general in the UK government who through many demanding roles.” now coach senior leaders through Praesta week, aware that it would be counter-pro- Cora Govett and Harry Lund share a Partners. They are co-authors of a number ductive to log on whilst their partner was deputy director role at the Department for of Praesta Insight booklets, including Job- in charge. They valued the fl exibility that Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, where sharing: a Model for the Future Workplace? allowed them to manage their commit- they are responsible for a major piece of (2018), The Resilient Leader (2020) and ments outside of work. They felt nourished reform. They decided they would each Leading for the Long Term (2021). These can by the mutual support, and the advan- cover the job full-time for two months, be downloaded from www.praesta.co.uk tage of having two brains and two sets of whilst the other person focused on family

30 | May 2021 | civilserviceworld.com

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Issue 254 | March 2016 | www.civilserviceworld.com Issue 258 | July 2016 | www.civilserviceworld.com Columnists Peter riddell, Jane Dudman and Dave OLD AGE Penman give their take TENSIONS JANE DUDMAN ON LESSONS FROM MYCSP economist’s LOOSENING outlook An interview with THE GRIP Vicky Pryce WHAT DOES THE PATCHWORK OF DEVOLUTION DEALS MEAN FOR WHITEHALL?

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Issue 263 | January 2017 | www.civilserviceworld.com Issue 274 | January 2018 | www.civilserviceworld.com MISS AN DEFENCE OF THE REALM AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ALL CHANGE WITH THE MOD Where do top officials PERMANENT go when they leave AN EXCLUSIVE SECRETARY government? INTERVIEW WITH ISSUE STEPHEN LOVEGROVE GENTLY DOES IT SURGE AND British Council chief RESCUE Ciarán Devane on soft We meet the team MEG crossing boundaries power and hard data to serve in a crisis BREXIT STAGE LEFT Sue Cameron on the REASONS TO Ivan Rogers row BE CHEERFUL HILLIER Andrew Greenway CHAIR OF THE ALL WELL? PUBLIC ACCOUNTS O cials are taking fewer is thankful that sick days – but managers COMMITTEE shouldn’t be complacent 2017 is over

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