A manifesto for delivery: 14 ideas for a better Whitehall

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Whoever forms the next government, they will immediately be confronted by numerous challenges which will place pressure upon the systems at the core of the State. To respond, the Whitehall system itself must boost its ability to deliver. 

This report, kindly supported by Newton and informed by five senior-level roundtable discussions, explores the barriers that stand in the way of more effective delivery and the policy ideas which could help to overcome them. It is organised across four pillars of Whitehall reform, with the ultimate aim of building a more delivery-focused system: 

• Machinery: Structural and systemic changes to the ‘machinery of government’ to establish the environment and incentives for effective delivery 
• People: Ensuring the presence of a highly skilled, capable, and cognitively diverse workforce 
• Innovation: Fostering the culture and conditions to yield highly innovative and creative approaches to problem-solving and delivery on priorities 
• Learning: Engineering a robust system of evaluation and learning to help drive continuous improvement throughout the system