02 December 2008
Silo mentality is ‘hitting cross-boundary working’
Mark Conrad
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Local government’s contribution to tackling cross-departmental policy challenges, such as climate change, obesity and extremism, is being undermined by Whitehall’s silo mentality, research has found.
A study by the independent Institute for Government concludes that Whitehall departments are not co-ordinating cross-departmental work effectively – and this is feeding through to service duplication, confused planning, and patchy delivery of frontline services at local government level.
Tom Gash, author of the report, called on the Government to appoint ‘cross-cutting ministers to take responsibility for key cross-cutting objectives, reducing the need for disruptive government restructurings’.
According to Mr Gash’s study, examples of how Whitehall’s poor co-ordination impacts on local authorities include:
* confusion. Within the space of two months, the Cabinet Office, Home Office and the CLG published reviews, White Papers and Green Papers dealing with new government proposals for tackling local crime rates. According to the IFG, ‘it was left to local government to work through how these messages related to circumstances on the ground’
* turf wars. Several key local initiatives have failed to get off the ground because officials at Whitehall departments refused to foot the bill for initiatives where benefits are spread across multiple agencies. Mental health services, in particular, have suffered from this
* duplication and inefficiency. Health officials at a primary care trust set up a ‘healthy living’ centre one year after the local council had set up a similar project.
To overcome these problems, Mr Gash also called on the Government to pool resources to ensure that money is spent more effectively, and include assessments of departments’ ability to work with other bodies in Whitehall’s Departmental Capability Reviews.
A senior Cabinet Office source told The MJ: ‘Work is already under way to modify DCRs to ensure they reflect the effectiveness of cross-government policy making.’
Sir Michael Bichard, executive director of the IFG, warned: ‘The challenges of the future will not be solved by traditional bureaucratic silos.’
A study by the independent Institute for Government concludes that Whitehall departments are not co-ordinating cross-departmental work effectively – and this is feeding through to service duplication, confused planning, and patchy delivery of frontline services at local government level.
Tom Gash, author of the report, called on the Government to appoint ‘cross-cutting ministers to take responsibility for key cross-cutting objectives, reducing the need for disruptive government restructurings’.
According to Mr Gash’s study, examples of how Whitehall’s poor co-ordination impacts on local authorities include:
* confusion. Within the space of two months, the Cabinet Office, Home Office and the CLG published reviews, White Papers and Green Papers dealing with new government proposals for tackling local crime rates. According to the IFG, ‘it was left to local government to work through how these messages related to circumstances on the ground’
* turf wars. Several key local initiatives have failed to get off the ground because officials at Whitehall departments refused to foot the bill for initiatives where benefits are spread across multiple agencies. Mental health services, in particular, have suffered from this
* duplication and inefficiency. Health officials at a primary care trust set up a ‘healthy living’ centre one year after the local council had set up a similar project.
To overcome these problems, Mr Gash also called on the Government to pool resources to ensure that money is spent more effectively, and include assessments of departments’ ability to work with other bodies in Whitehall’s Departmental Capability Reviews.
A senior Cabinet Office source told The MJ: ‘Work is already under way to modify DCRs to ensure they reflect the effectiveness of cross-government policy making.’
Sir Michael Bichard, executive director of the IFG, warned: ‘The challenges of the future will not be solved by traditional bureaucratic silos.’
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