"Just Do It". UK Minister urges Public Sector Reform at the OECD
UK Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude shared lessons from UK reform at the OECD's "Ideas to Impact" public sector innovation conference.
UK Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude shared lessons from UK public sector reforms with a packed audience at the OECD’s “Ideas to Impact” public sector innovation conference on 13 November.
“The best innovations comes from the front line, where there’s the greatest hunger and knowledge for change, not from grand strategies and theories” he said. Public servants should have the confidence and freedom to experiment and “just do it”.
Mr Maude described successful UK efforts to establish over 100 public service mutuals - spun out of the core public sector. “We’ve seen dramatic increases in the quality, productivity and innovation. And I’ve never met a mutual employee who’s told me that they want to go back.”
IT procurement was another area where the UK had made huge strides, said Mr Maude. Clearer procurement guidelines, shorter contracts, adoption of open standards and user driven innovation had delivered millions of pounds of savings, with payback for many changes achieved within months, or even days.