By David Williams
10 September 2009
An influential MPs’ committee has criticised Whitehall departments for stifling innovation and repeatedly failing to learn from mistakes.
In a report published on September 10, the Commons Public Accounts Committee said risk-averse attitudes were killing off innovation and there were few incentives for staff, suppliers and service users to contribute new ideas.
The report, Learning and innovation in government, also said it was vital that departments could identify and abort failing projects. It singled out the National Offender Management Information System for criticism. The scheme failed in its primary objective to centralise prisoner and probation records on to a single database, missed its deadline by three years and cost twice as much as originally planned.
However, the launch of the Jobcentre Plus network was praised for coming in on-budget and for its intelligent use of information gathered in the pilot stages.
PAC chair Edward Leigh said: ‘This committee has seen many examples of departments repeating mistakes that they or other parts of government have made in the past. This failure to learn from experience is particularly serious in the current economic climate.’
The committee set out fundamental principles for learning and innovation in government, including being open about performance instead of covering-up failure; sharing information across organisations; actively collaborating with service suppliers and listening to frontline staff.
10 September 2009
An influential MPs’ committee has criticised Whitehall departments for stifling innovation and repeatedly failing to learn from mistakes.
In a report published on September 10, the Commons Public Accounts Committee said risk-averse attitudes were killing off innovation and there were few incentives for staff, suppliers and service users to contribute new ideas.
The report, Learning and innovation in government, also said it was vital that departments could identify and abort failing projects. It singled out the National Offender Management Information System for criticism. The scheme failed in its primary objective to centralise prisoner and probation records on to a single database, missed its deadline by three years and cost twice as much as originally planned.
However, the launch of the Jobcentre Plus network was praised for coming in on-budget and for its intelligent use of information gathered in the pilot stages.
PAC chair Edward Leigh said: ‘This committee has seen many examples of departments repeating mistakes that they or other parts of government have made in the past. This failure to learn from experience is particularly serious in the current economic climate.’
The committee set out fundamental principles for learning and innovation in government, including being open about performance instead of covering-up failure; sharing information across organisations; actively collaborating with service suppliers and listening to frontline staff.
