This presentation was made by Andy Heath & Ruth Ward, HM Treasury, United Kingdom, at the 14th Annual Meeting of the OECD Senior Budget Officials Performance & Results network held at the OECD Conference Centre, Paris, on 26-27 November 2018

1. Improving how we plan and
report performance
Andy Heath & Ruth Ward

2. The past few years have been busy in the UK…
2015 2016 2017 2018
2015 General Election
EU referendum
2017 General Election
2018 reshuffle
New Home Secretary
and SoS MHCLG
First round of SDPs developed
Public SDPs published
Internal SDPs
agreed by Ministers
SDPs revised for
2017/18
SDPs
updated
Public SDPs published
SDPs revised
for 2018/19
Public SDPs
published
Internal SDPs
agreed by
Ministers
The challenge: establishing
and embedding an enduring
planning and performance
framework

3. We have identified some key challenges for the
next few years
Prioritisation
Embedding
the system in
departments
Risk
Performance
measurement
Cross-
government
workingCapability

4. And we want to bring the quality of all
departments up to that of the best
• A clear structure, linking
detailed work areas to
strategic objectives
• Clear metrics, that show
what success looks like
– with a mix of input,
output, process and
outcome measures

5. And we want to bring the quality of all
departments up to that of the best
• One department used
the single departmental
plan to set out strategic
objectives to large
numbers of new staff
• Used it to refresh staff’s
understanding of the
strategic objectives they
contribute to
• Ran workshops and
provided guidance to
line managers, to help
staff set personal
objectives that would
support the strategic
objectives

6. And we want to bring the quality of all
departments up to that of the best
• Increasing transparency
with trackable
performance data on the
gov.uk website
• Increasing compliance
with open data
standards by linking to
the latest, downloadable
sources
• Working with Parliament
and stakeholders to
make public plans more
usable to the public and
MPs

7. Government Financial Reporting Review
Background
2014 Simplifying and Streamlining
2017 Accounting for Democracy (first report)
2018 HMT and NAO responses to Accounting for Democracy
• HMT response proposes a review of accounts
2018 Accounting for Democracy (follow up report incorporating
responses)
• PACAC welcomes the proposed review of accounts
2018-19 – Government Financial Reporting Review
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8. Government Financial Reporting Review Aims
1. To clearly state the main aims of government
financial reporting;
2. to review current practices for government
financial reporting; and
3. to take steps to improve government financial
reporting.
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9. Five issues giants
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“I wouldn’t start from here…”
Complexity
Integrated thinking?
Preparing useful reports
Assurance
User engagement

10. Next steps
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Government Financial Reporting Review published late February / early
March 2019. Includes:
• Short ‘conceptual framework’ guidance setting out the purpose of
government financial reporting;
• Map of financial and related non-financial reporting across government;
• Discussion of the underlying complexity;
• Discussion of assurance;
• Best practice examples and discussion of what good reporting looks
like.
Updates to guidance and ongoing improvement will follow as part of the
usual update and revision cycle in 2019 and beyond.

11. Questions?
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