Culture eats machinery of government for breakfast

By Hamida Ali, FGF’s Head of Learning and Partnerships

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We’re still only in Andy Burnham’s first month in office and already we’ve seen his new administration make some striking machinery of government changes. The new Prime Minister has finally grasped the nettle and established a new Office for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet (OPMC) along the lines FGF recommended in our Transforming Downing Street report last year. It represents a very clear statement of what the Prime Minister wants to achieve: form is following function. Although that vision is less clear for the abolition of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) where it’s much harder to read the intention of its dissection and what that means for the government’s policy ambition for the tech sector and digital transformation across government.

Less visible, less straightforward, but no less critical is the cultural transformation on which the ultimate success of these reforms will rest. Culture over structure is a recurring theme of FGF’s work: redrawing the organogram is never sufficient by itself. It is organisational culture and behaviours that will make or break change in a system.

Early signs are encouraging. Andy Burnham has appeared intentional in his transition from Mayor of Greater Manchester to MP for Makerfield to Leader of the Labour Party, and finally to Prime Minister. In the Manchester People’s Museum he committed to building an ‘inclusive team at the very highest level so that all parts of the party and the country can see themselves reflected and represented’. In an email to all members of the Parliamentary Labour Party putting himself forward as party leader, he outlined clearly the culture he wants to model and lead, reinforced by the Chief Whip’s letter following appointments of Parliamentary Private Secretaries. His speech on the steps of Downing Street without notes or a lectern, the sheer speed in standing up an extended and expanded No.10 and clear direction to cabinet ministers on their responsibilities to prevent briefings against government, all signal both a high degree of intentionality and that culture as well as structure are being considered hand in hand.

There are also some open questions. Last year we argued that a new Executive Office of the Prime Minister demanded its own leadership role, leaving the Cabinet Secretary the necessary headroom for leadership of the wider - half a million-strong - civil service and its future reform. While Antonia Romeo is firmly at the helm of the OPMC, where on the list do those considerable responsibilities fall? And while the implications of cabinet and political appointments for gender, class and geographical inequalities have been much commented on, far less has been made of what these mean for race equality. On the official side it is deeply unfortunate that the widely respected and super bright permanent secretary for DSIT - who was the *only* permanent secretary from a global majority background - is now presumably left without a comparable role - which for an organisation the size of even the part of the civil service based in London, is quite staggering.

When the PM stated in Downing Street that he ‘will put the care of people at the heart of everything’ he does, that should go as much for how he works with the politicians, policymakers and practitioners tasked with executing his writ across government - as it does for the citizens they all serve. The policy and political complexity facing the new administration on every front means that now more than ever, they need the very best possible operation available made up of the most talented advisers and civil servants in the country.

A good working culture is cultivated by everyone in an organisation - not willed into existence solely by the positional leader. Peter Hyman wrote recently that ‘believing the culture will take care of itself because Andy is a nice guy’ was a ‘mistake to avoid’. He’s dead right. This new OPMC will need to establish a culture of ‘one-team’ and everyone across the system has a role to play in sustaining a positive working environment where the most talented politicians, policymakers and practitioners can thrive. All of which becomes even more important in an extended No 10 operating across two sites - although Kate Groucotts’ appointment to focus on connectivity between No 10s North and South is again encouraging.

Last year, we recommended a cultural reset at the heart of government, stemming from three core principles:

1. Clarity of purpose - a shared north star that everyone in the system has helped develop

2. Clarity of roles - underpinned by clear job descriptions which remain as relevant to the post holder in role, as it did to the appointment process

3. A great place to work - it may sound obvious, but the distinction of working in No 10 cannot compensate for a poor day-to-day experience - not just for those there now, but also for its future pipeline. A tour of duty at No 10 should be a prized opportunity for any civil servant.

To support this, Downing Street should have its own bespoke world-class professional people function with a focus on attracting the best talent. This is one of the most important advantages of drawing a harder boundary around Downing Street in this way. Done well, it would enable the leadership team responsible for the operation of No 10 to recruit according to their needs – advertising externally by default, setting their own pay scales, hierarchy and operating a single employment contract for both civil servant roles and political appointments.

Marshall Ganz, famous for grounding Obama’s 2008 campaign in community organising, defines leadership as “accepting responsibility for enabling others to achieve a shared purpose in the face of uncertainty.” This would work well as a guiding principle for the Prime Minister and his team as they approach the harder job ahead of instilling and sustaining the culture they have begun to outline. It is in the interests of all of us that they succeed.