This presentation was made by Johannes Wolff, United Kingdom, at the 12th Annual Meeting on Performance and Results held at the OECD, Paris, on 24-25 November 2016

1. Public Sector Productivity:
Measurement and Implementation,
UK experience
25th November 2016

2. We have implemented a suite of tools to improve performance
and deliver high-quality services, within SR envelope
2
Financial Management
• Financial Management
Reform programme improving
the capability and operating
model of the finance function
through:
• Value maps
• Costing projects
• Standardising Management
Information
Spending Review: Core budget allocation; conducted every 3-4 years; incorporates detailed cost analysis,
evaluation and consultation with departments and other experts
Financial Management Reform
programme improving financial
management across government
to deliver savings
Single Departmental
Plans
Single roadmap,
bringing together a
departmental narrative
on performance and
spend – including
efficiency and growth
Implementation Unit helps to
ensure all political
commitments are delivered
SDPs lay out how departments
will deliver their priorities within
their settlements
Operational Delivery
• Driving cross-cutting policy
delivery through
Implementation Taskforces
• Creating Departmental
Implementation Units
• Reporting on operational
performance
• Targeted interventions and
‘deep dives’

3. We launched Single Departmental Plans (SDPs) last year,
now we are working on embedding
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‘a step in the right direction’ –
NAO, 2016
2016-17: 17 SDPs published -
underpinned by detailed business
planning and performance
management, owned by depts.
Embedded in gov’ts performance
framework: Regular internal
reporting, and alignment of staff
objectives and Annual Reports
2017-18: 18 refreshed SDPs to
refine plans and support
prioritisation in new contexts
Improvements:
• Operational delivery
• Cross-cutting issues (incl
Implementation Taskforces)
• Functional capacity and activity
• ALB planning
Sub-
Objective
1
Sub-
Objective
2
Sub-
Objective
3
Departmental Objective (Corp/Functional)
• SMART
• Lead Minister + Lead Official
• Headline Metrics
Departmental Objective (Strategic)
• SMART
• Lead Minister + Lead Official
• Headline Metrics
Vision Statement
Overall Budget
Implementation Taskforces
Departmental Objective (Strategic)
• SMART
• Lead Minister + Lead Official
• Headline Metrics
Work
area 3
Work
area 2
Work
area 1
Work
area 3
Work
area 2
Work
area 1
For each priority, work area or sub-objective Departments should set out:
• the lead official responsible;
• an Implementation Timetable;
• performance metrics.
Links to wider priorities - Departments should outline
where DOs contribute to:
• Cross-government initiatives (e.g. efficiency)
• Functional initiatives
• Implementation Task Forces
Cross-Government and ALB Input- Departments should
highlight where successful delivery of DOs depends on
contributions from:
• ALBs;
• other Departments; and
• the Functions.
Operational delivery area 1
For operational delivery, the SDP should map links to Departmental Objectives and
set out:
• purpose, delivery agency and named head of service; and
• KPI for on-going delivery, Implementation timetable and metrics for service
transformation, and dependencies.
Operational delivery area 2

4. Value Maps challenge us to drive understanding right across
the production process
4
All depts. commissioned to create a Value Map
Peer review panels held to discuss their
systematic assessment of:
• How well it understands spend in each area
• How well it understands efficiency of that
spend
• Opportunities for improvement in
understanding or efficiency
Panel sessions agreed priority actions for
departments and identified x-gov’t issues and
opportunities
From rollout in January 2016 Findings and next steps
• High opportunity ‘blind spots’ in understanding and unexplored efficiency
opportunities– joint working (economic, finance and policy) enabled this. Appetite to
assess spend across depts. for common outcomes (e.g. crime and justice, local
services)
• Localised delivery models – present challenges for measurement & gov’t levers
• Workforce – improved analytical rigour needed to understand efficient workforce
models
• Outcomes – Difficult to define and measure – but crucial for understanding efficacy
and allocative efficiency
• Overview vs granular – view of total spend enabled comparison across dept and
gov’t. Value Maps are being used in specific areas to build a more granular picture
We expect to repeat the exercise to assess improvements in understanding over time
and test new methodology – e.g. other tools, x-gov’t spend view

5. For more information, please email govfinance@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk
‘Costing projects’ are building understanding of spending in
large complex cross-cutting areas
Baseline total spend,
Including cost variation
and segmentations by
inputs, outputs &
outcomes
Define scope of project
and align all senior
stakeholders on
baseline scope & deep
dive questions
Deep dive into narrow
areas of baseline to
further interrogate
spend
Projects informed
by:
Existing
data
6-8 WEEK COSTING PROJECT APPROACH
Weekly
SteerCo
s
Stakeholder
interviews
Frontline
visits
Internationa
l
comparison
s
1 2 3
SOFT START
Dissemination events
and assessment
meeting after each
project to ensure
lessons learnt
4
WASH-UP
Previou
s
reviews
HMG at the BorderHealth & Social CareMental Health Further Education
Departures &
Removals
Research and
Science
Criminal Justice
(LDN)
Health and WorkHMG at the Border 2Serious & Org. crime
Enforcement &
Compliance
Children’s ServicesInfrastructureCounter Terrorism

6. Culture
• Embedding a performance-orientated culture is difficult and will take time, especially
when working with a wide range of professions, from economists to finance professionals to
policy/strategy teams
Siloes
• The UK government has an established accountability system which provides clear
accountability within government, and importantly to Parliament. This may create siloes,
hindering government’s abilities to see ‘across’ important issues, but having a single
version of performance through SDPs will help
Difficult to include outcomes in productivity measurements
• It is important to look at a full suite of measures for productivity, and efficiency, including
inputs, outputs and outcomes, to ensure the government can continue to deliver high
quality public services
Some reflections so far…
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