[Withdrawn] Cabinet Office single departmental plan - May 2018
Updated 27 June 2019
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Our single departmental plan sets out our objectives and how we will achieve them.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Rt Hon David Lidington CBE MP
Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service
Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office and Chief Executive of the Civil Service
We support the Prime Minister and ensure the effective running of government. We are also the corporate headquarters for government in partnership with HM Treasury, and we take the lead in critical policy areas.
Our objectives
We will:
-
Maintain the integrity of the Union, coordinate the security of the realm and sustain a flourishing democracy
-
Support the design and implementation of HM Government’s policies and the Prime Minister’s priorities
-
Ensure the delivery of the finest public services by attracting and developing the best public servants and improving the efficiency of government
1. Maintain the integrity of the Union, coordinate the security of the realm and sustain a flourishing democracy
Lead ministers
The Rt Hon David Lidington CBE MP Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Chloe Smith MP, Minister for the Constitution
Lead officials
Mark Sedwill, National Security Adviser
Charles Farr, Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee
Lucy Smith, Director General, UK Governance Group
1.1 Deliver a stable constitutional settlement that represents a fair deal for every part of our United Kingdom
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Establish UK frameworks in agreed policy areas in order to secure the UK’s internal market and the government’s ability to strike trade deals and maintain national security |
| Support Ministers in the successful delivery of the devolution clauses of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill |
| Deliver a communications campaign to increase support for the Union in all parts of the UK, actively working to bring people together by promoting policies that support integration and social cohesion |
| Enable British citizens who have lived abroad for more than 15 years to vote in the next scheduled parliamentary general election |
1.2 Coordinate, deliver and implement the National Security Strategy and respond to National Security threats at home and abroad
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Manage national security priority programmes, leading and supporting the implementation across government of strategies set by the National Security Council and the National Security Capability Review |
| Support government by effectively discharging key executive functions underpinning national security |
| Assure an effective risk-led process that improves both readiness for and response to crises at local and national levels, and builds the resilience of our critical national infrastructure |
1.3 Coordinate and develop international policy across government
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Build on the April 2018 Commonwealth Summit to facilitate a smooth transition of responsibility for the UK’s Chair-in-Office (one of the main leadership positions in the Commonwealth) to a new cross Whitehall team in the FCO and help that unit ensure the government delivers on its summit commitments |
| Maintain the delivery of the UK’s commitments agreed at the London Global Anti-Corruption Summit |
1.4 Ensure a stable electoral system and a democracy that works for all
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Ensure that electoral law supports continued democratic engagement |
| Improve the electoral system and maximise the registration of voters within the UK and for overseas electors (contributes to SDG 16) |
| Publish the Boundary Commission’s proposals in Autumn 2018 before debate |
| Implement the government’s response to the Sir Eric Pickles’ review on electoral fraud |
| Implement the government’s response to the Committee on Standards in Public Life report on candidate intimidation, including consulting on the introduction of a new offence in electoral law of intimidating Parliamentary candidates and party campaigners |
1.5 Increase devolution capability and engagement
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Hold departments to account on agreement and implementation of their devolution engagement and capability plans |
| Improve the capability of the Civil Service to understand devolution and sustain and strengthen the Union (contributes to SDG 16) |
Our performance
UK’s soft power rating
| Year | UK soft power rating |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 75.72 |
| 2016 | 75.67 |
| 2015 | 75.61 |
Source: Portland’s Global ranking of Soft Power 2017; release schedule: annual
2. Support the design and implementation of HM Government’s policies and the Prime Minister’s priorities
Lead ministers
The Rt Hon David Lidington CBE MP, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Oliver Dowden CBE MP, Minister for Implementation
Lead officials
Elizabeth Gardiner, First Parliamentary Counsel
Shona Dunn, Director General, Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat
James Quinault, Director, Implementation Unit
2.1 Establish, monitor and implement the government’s strategic priorities
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Track the delivery of the Prime Minister’s priority policies and government’s manifesto commitments and wider programme, intervening where delivery or operational performance is at risk |
| Strengthen implementation capability across the Civil Service through training and cross-government best practice sharing |
2.2 Drive policy innovation across government
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Promote innovative solutions to policy challenges through leading-edge techniques such as the use of behavioural insights |
| Incorporate horizon-scanning into government work by driving up interest in and capability for innovative thinking across government |
| Develop strategies to drive innovative thinking by delivering projects that have a demonstrable impact both on policy outcomes and the capability of civil servants in new policy-making methods |
2.3 Draw up and facilitate the delivery of the government’s legislative agenda
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Plan and draft the legislative programme |
| Facilitate the passage of Bills and secondary legislation through both Houses of Parliament in accordance to the timetables set by government and Parliament |
| Deliver legislation according to the timetables set by government and Parliament |
2.4 Support the effective operation of Cabinet and Cabinet Committees
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Support the smooth and cohesive operation of Cabinet, Cabinet Committees and Implementation Task Forces |
| Support departments to secure collective agreement to policies |
| Quality assure information which is passed between departments and Cabinet committees and Implementation Task Forces ensuring a seamless flow of accurate data |
2.5 Deliver cross-cutting projects and services
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Lead the way - in our role at the centre of government - in coordinating and supporting projects, services and delivery across departments, such as delivery of the UK Geospatial Strategy and the Infrastructure and Project Authority’s work with City and/or City Region Authorities to ensure housing projects they deliver are set up to succeed and have effective assurance. This will enable the government to deliver its manifesto commitments and wider business, and the Prime Minister’s agenda |
3. Ensure the delivery of the finest public services by attracting and developing the best public servants and improving the efficiency of government
Lead ministers
The Rt Hon David Lidington CBE MP, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Oliver Dowden CBE MP, Minister for Implementation
Chloe Smith MP, Minister for the Constitution
Lead officials
Kevin Cunnington, Director General, Government Digital Service
Alex Aiken, Executive Director, Government Communication
Lesley-Ann Nash, Director for Public Bodies
Rupert McNeil, Government Chief People Officer
Tracey Waltho, Director General, Civil Service Group
Mike Parsons, Director General of Government Property
Tony Meggs, Chief Executive, Infrastructure and Projects Authority
Gareth Rhys Williams, Government Chief Commercial Officer
Lesley Hume, Executive Director, Fraud Error & Debt
Matthew Coates, Director General, Implementation and Coordination
Malcolm Harrison, Chief Executive, Crown Commercial Service
Helen Macnamara, Director General, Propriety and Ethics, Private Office Group
Campbell McCafferty, Government Chief Security Officer
3.1 Supporting an effective UK exit from the EU, and managing its implications for maintaining the integrity of the union
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Support Ministers in the successful delivery of the devolution clauses of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill |
| Support the DExEU as departments move into project delivery for EU Exit |
| Continuously develop the support and assurance framework for the EU Exit Domestic Impact portfolio |
| Develop a blueprint for the public procurement regime after EU Exit and support the DExEU and DIT with negotiations on public procurement regulations |
3.2 Through the Functions, support departments to create better public services by bringing the latest and best knowledge and skills to bear on an issue
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Strengthen digital, technology and the management and use of data across government, by continuing to develop a set of “Government as a Platform” tools to make it easier and faster to develop and operate a simple, good digital service, configurable to a specific service’s need |
| Oversee communications for the government at large, delivering the Prime Minister’s priority campaigns with stakeholders and using data-driven insight to improve the effectiveness of government communication |
| Ensure the Civil Service attracts and retains the best people and offers career paths to get the best from its people creating a great place to work for the Civil Service 2020 vision |
| Build a sustainable talent pipeline through the Ethnic Diversity Programme, Disability Inclusion Programme and the new Diverse Leadership Taskforce (contributes to SDG 16) |
| Create a public estate for public benefit, through helping government departments to identify surplus and under-utilised land to deliver £5bn capital receipts by 2020, and free up more space for housing (contributes to SDG 11) |
| Invest in developing our property professionals and provide enhanced asset management through the new Government Property Agency |
| Deliver improved cross-government commercial capability, advice and services, and through the Crown Commercial Service, help central government and the wider public sector achieve commercial benefits from the procurement of common goods and services worth up to £2bn over the spending review period to 2020 |
| Support departments in improving project delivery, cross-departmental prioritisation of government programmes and projects and the delivery of critical infrastructure and enable the delivery of infrastructure and major projects by helping to unlock private sector investment |
| Ensure that major projects are set up to succeed and have effective assurance, as well as developing project leadership and building delivery capability in government |
| Measure the performance of projects over time, to improve performance of the system and deliver the intended benefits for society and value for money for the taxpayer |
| Deliver cross government pilots for using data to identify and prevent fraud across the public sector |
| Develop a Debt Centre of Excellence, which will have responsibility for delivering and monitoring Debt Standards to improve capability and drive efficiencies |
| Improve grant making across government by continuing to embed grant standards, delivering high quality data insight from the Government Grants Information System (GGIS) and building capability through Grants Centre of Excellence |
3.3 Ensure government continues to work in an open and transparent way
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Support the publication of data transparency across government |
| Deliver a publicly accessible digital tool and Race Disparity Audit showing the difference in experience and outcome for different racial groups around the UK when interacting with public services |
3.4 Make the Civil Service more effective and efficient and improve the performance of the Cabinet Office, including by the delivery of new commercial models
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Challenge departments to find efficiencies across government and promote public sector transformation and the vision to be A Brilliant Civil Service |
| Develop an agenda for change to increase future civil service effectiveness, identifying gaps and emerging issues to deliver A Brilliant Civil Service |
| Deliver effective new commercial models to generate direct savings of £50m to the Cabinet Office through dividends from our Joint Ventures |
3.5 Reform, improve and ensure accountability of public bodies, and ensure the best people fill public appointments and that they act in the right way
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Drive the collective delivery of a simplified, customer centric and cost effective system for the arm’s length provision of public services |
| Maintain a simple and coherent Arms Length Bodies landscape through guidance and classification that supports government reforms |
| Establish a set of principles and standards on transparency for public bodies |
| Provide oversight and advice on public appointments across government, the honours system and a wide range of propriety, conduct and policy issues (contributes to SDG 5) |
| Ensure that by 2022 50% of public appointees are female and 14% are from ethnic minority backgrounds through the public appointments diversity action plan (contributes to SDG 5 and 10) |
| Support and facilitate a fair and diverse honours system |
| Maintain an equal number of women and men on the honours lists and improve wider diversity (contributes to SDG 5) |
3.6 Deliver and enhance shared services across government
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Implement the Shared Services Strategy for Government in collaboration with departments and functions |
| Establish new strategic governance for Government Shared Services throughout the Civil Service |
3.7 Deliver Civil Service and Royal Mail Pensions Schemes
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Deliver the Civil Service and Royal Mail Statutory Pension Schemes in an efficient and cost-effective way |
| Begin a programme to develop the new model for Civil Service Pensions arrangement in 2020 |
Our performance
UK ranking on Open Data Barometer
| Year | Global world ranking | Overall score (out of 100) |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 1 | 100 |
| 2016 | 1 | 100 |
| 2015 | 1 | 100 |
Source: Open Data Barometer
Civil Service People Survey
| Year | Employee engagement index (%) |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 61 |
| 2016 | 59 |
| 2015 | 58 |
Source: Civil Service People Survey: 2017 results; release schedule: annual
Public appointment diversity: women in public appointments
| Year | Percentage of women in public appointments (%) |
|---|---|
| 2016/17 | 49 |
| 2013/14 | 34 |
Source: Cabinet Office
Government spend with Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs)
| Year | Annual spend (£ billion) |
|---|---|
| 2015/16 | 5.6 |
| 2014/15 | 4.8 |
Source: Cabinet Office; latest Government published figures: October 2017.
Our equality objectives
We have set objectives to help us advance equality. These are:
- Actively embrace the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy
- Maintain an equal number of women and men on the honours lists and improve wider diversity
- By 2022 ensure that 50% of public appointees are female and 14% are from ethnic minority backgrounds
- Publish on GOV.UK a dashboard to present key diversity and inclusion data and measures for the Civil Service
- Publish targets for ethnic minority and disabled representation in new joiners to the Senior Civil Service
Our finances
Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL): £ 436.3 million
Resource DEL (including depreciation): £406.7 million
Capital DEL: £29.7 million
Annually Managed Expenditure (AME): £5 million
Control totals included in this document are in line with those presented in the Main Supply Estimates 2018/19 and are currently subject to Parliamentary approval. Any changes arising from the Parliamentary approval process will be reflected in due course.
Source: Main Supply Estimates 2018/19
An additional £49.4m has been allocated to Cabinet Office to support preparations for exiting the EU. This was announced alongside the Spring Statement 2018 and will be confirmed through the Supplementary Estimates 2018/19.
Our people
As at 31 December 2017, the Cabinet Office had 5050 full-time equivalent employees, not including its agencies.
Source: ONS Public sector employment data; release schedule: quarterly
How we contribute to cross-government priorities
We work across government on cross-cutting issues, including:
- Housing
- Modern slavery and people trafficking
- Rough sleeping and homelessness reduction
- Digital
- Industrial Strategy
- Immigration
- Employment and skills
- Mental health
- Race disparity