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About the Civil Service

Ministry of Justice - Baseline Assessment

Contents

• Foreword
• 1.The Permanent Secretary's response
• 2. Ministry of Justice
• 3. Assessment of capability for future delivery
• 4. Baseline assessment findings
• 5. Key areas for action
• Annex A: The model of capability
• Annex B: Assessment categories

Foreword

The purpose of Capability Reviews is to use honest and robust assessments of future capabilities to identify the specific measures that are needed if central government departments are to play their part in enabling the UK to meet the considerable challenges of the future.

In a world of new technologies, climate change, security threats, migration and a huge diversity in users of public services, the Civil Service must be able to respond to changes faster than ever before. The Capability Reviews are an important part of making this happen with an assessment of a department's capability to meet its future challenges.

This review was carried out by the Capability Reviews Team in the Cabinet Office, with external reviewers chosen for their expertise and experience. I would like to thank and acknowledge the support of the review team for the Ministry of Justice, without whom this report would not have been possible. The external members of the team were:

• Dr William Moyes, Executive Chairman, Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts (Monitor)
• Mark Addison, former Director General, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

This report is just the beginning. The real challenge for the Ministry of Justice comes in implementing what has been identified as needing to be done. I will hold the Permanent Secretary to account on the Ministry's progress in these areas. The Capability Reviews Team will regularly review progress and provide support to ensure that the Ministry is on track to deliver its future challenges.

Sir Gus O'Donnell KCB
Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service
April 2008

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1. The Permanent Secretary's response

The work of the Ministry of Justice touches the lives of everyone - whether through the court system, ensuring that the public are protected, or our work on supporting democracy and constitutional reform. And, as the third largest employer in Whitehall, we have a key part to play in public service reform and improvement. I am both privileged and proud to lead the Ministry. My job, and that of my Board, is to constantly seek to improve our performance so that we can meet the challenges of the future.

I therefore welcome this baseline assessment. It provides an excellent starting point against which I, and my new Corporate Management Board, can measure progress as we strive to develop the Ministry of Justice.

As the assessment recognises, there is much that the Ministry of Justice has already achieved of which we can be proud. The creation of our new Ministry has generated an enormous amount of enthusiasm and energy, amongst both staff and stakeholders. Our operational arms have continued to deliver in extremely challenging circumstances. The announcement of a new partnership between Her Majesty's Courts Service and the judiciary for the operation of the courts in January 2008 has created strong foundations for the future. And we have decided on our new organisational structure with pace and energy.

However, as this assessment makes clear, there is still a lot to achieve. The Ministry of Justice's new Corporate Management Board starts work on 1 April 2008 and the four areas for further action identified in this baseline assessment are at the heart of our agenda. I am both pleased that these are all areas on which we have been focusing through our organisational review and grateful for the fresh perspective that this assessment has provided. With the help of the two new non-executive directors who will join the new board very soon, we will ensure that we continue to challenge ourselves to deliver on each action area.

Sir Suma Chakrabarti KCB
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice
April 2008

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2. The Ministry of Justice

The Ministry of Justice's main responsibilities are:

• the administration of correctional services in England and Wales;
• youth justice and sponsorship of the Youth Justice Board;
• criminal, civil, family and administrative law;
• hosting of the trilateral OCJR;
• administration of the civil, family and criminal courts in England and Wales through Her Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS) and of tribunals across the UK through the Tribunals Service;
• Legal Aid and the wider Community Legal Service through the Legal Services Commission;
• support for the judiciary and judicial appointments; and
• constitutional affairs, including electoral reform and democratic engagement, civil and human rights, freedom of information, management of the UK's constitutional arrangements and relationships.

The Ministry has a budget of over £9bn and directly employs 79,000 staff, making it the third largest employer in Whitehall.

From April 2008 MOJ will lead on the delivery of the Public Service Agreement to 'Deliver a more effective, transparent and responsive Criminal Justice System for victims and the public'. MOJ also contributes significantly to a number of other Public Service Agreements such as 'Making communities safer'.

MOJ will deliver its objectives whilst making efficiency savings in line with a 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review settlement which requires real reductions in spending over the three years to 2010/11.

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3. Assessment of capability for future delivery

Leadership

Leadership assessment

L1	Set direction		Well placed
L2	Ignite passion, pace and drive		Well placed
L3	Take responsibility for leading delivery and change		Development area
L4	Build capability		Development area

Strategy

Strategy assessment

S1	Focus on outcomes		Urgent development area
S2	Base choices on evidence		Development area
S3	Build common purpose		Development area

Delivery

Delivery assessment

D1	Plan, resource and prioritise		Urgent development area
D2	Develop clear roles, responsibilities and business model(s)		Urgent development area
D3	Manage performance		Development area

The model of capability is shown at Annex A.

The assessment categories are shown at Annex B.

This review was conducted during February 2008 following the extensive machinery of government changes which saw the creation in May 2007 of MOJ. At the time of the review MOJ was in a state of transition to new organisational structures and many of the key elements of capability were either not yet in place or undergoing fundamental change. The new organisational structure is being launched in parallel with the publication of this review.

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4. Baseline assessment findings

Leadership

• The new Permanent Secretary arrived in December and has generated new momentum and a broad sense of direction for MOJ. The Permanent Secretary acted swiftly to deliver on his promise to finalise the new top-level structure for the Ministry by the end of January 2008.
• Work is proceeding at pace to confirm the next level of organisational detail and to agree framework documents with key agencies by April 2008. There is a strong commitment to staff engagement throughout this process.
• The review team found that staff morale in the Ministry has improved in recent months, but that in order to maintain the momentum that has been built up the leadership team needs to demonstrate a sustained commitment to staff engagement as the restructuring programme moves forward.
• The new Corporate Management Board is not yet in place and therefore cannot yet be said to be an effective corporate leadership team, but the Permanent Secretary has clearly set out the values and behaviours he expects from board members and has demonstrated that he is prepared to challenge them to be corporate.
• Plans for an overhauled sub-committee structure will strengthen corporate governance if successfully implemented.
• The roles, responsibilities and accountabilities of board members are still to be resolved as the departmental business model is clarified through implementation of the new structure.
• There are significant challenges for the Ministry in filling skills gaps, including in HR, project and programme management and change management. There has recently been an injection of specialist expertise at director general and director level.

Strategy

• The creation of a unified Ministry of Justice generated enthusiasm amongst staff and created new opportunities for synergy and joined-up working.
• A clear narrative has not yet been developed to draw together the different parts of the Ministry for staff and stakeholders. Such a narrative would help to ensure that the opportunities presented by the Ministry's creation can be fully exploited.
• There is a risk that any resource allocation decisions taken in the absence of a clear, overarching rationale will be sub-optimal and that delivery plans currently under development for the Ministry's strategic objectives will provide strategic clarity within the associated organisational units, but not across the organisation.
• MOJ's analytical capability is dispersed and the Board recognises that it is not making most effective use of this resource to support the development of evidence-based strategy and policy. Steps are being taken to address this, but the scale of the challenge is substantial and the Ministry as a whole needs more rigour in understanding what works and in using evidence to inform strategy and policy. This section summarises the review team's main findings in the three areas of the model of capability: leadership, strategy and delivery.
• Progress has been made in building effective relations with some key partners and stakeholders, but the picture is varied and significant challenges remain, for example meeting the very high expectations of the new partnership with the judiciary on HMCS management.

Delivery

• The review team's findings in this area of the model of capability are set against the recognition that MOJ's operational arms continue to deliver in extremely challenging circumstances.
• MOJ's board structure has been agreed, but the detail of the business models underpinning it has not yet been worked through.
• Roles, responsibilities and accountabilities are yet to be defined for the directors general on the Board and the business units within the Ministry's five organisational business groups. As a result, lines of accountability between the delivery organisations, the policy directors general and the Corporate Performance Director General are not clear.
• Responsibilities for performance management within and between the business groups are also yet to be defined. Achieving clarity and agreement will be challenging, and the difficulties in making the structural plans work have, so far, been underestimated. This is particularly significant in the case of the NOMS and HMCS agencies, where several parts of MOJ currently have a performance management interest.
• The Board is not always able to draw on reliable data when taking prioritisation decisions within a difficult financial environment. It is not currently able to set a reasonable price for a given level of service and drive efficiencies by creating incentives for providers to deliver at or below that price.
• Taking this into account, and in the absence of a clearly articulated overarching narrative for the Ministry, the delivery of true 'zero-based reviews' within the timescale that has been set will be challenging.

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5. Key areas for action

Area for action 1 - Clearly communicate a unifying thread which binds together staff in the different parts of MOJ

• To ensure that the full benefits of the creation of a Ministry of Justice are realised, the top leadership team should communicate a clear and consistent narrative to staff which fosters common purpose and promotes greater joining-up between the organisational components.
• Setting out a clear narrative will help to ensure that the forthcoming organisational changes are set in the appropriate context for staff and those with whom MOJ interacts. The review found strong evidence of a real appetite amongst both staff and stakeholders for such a narrative, and the Board recognises this.

Area for action 2 - Define clear roles, responsibilities and business models, and make them work

• Plans are in place to set out further detail around the future organisational structure by April 2008. Work on this is being coordinated by a central design authority.
• The need for clarity on performance accountabilities between agencies, directors general and the Corporate Performance function is particularly urgent.
• The successful implementation of a planned new board sub-committee structure will be critical in ensuring that decisions can be taken at the right level.
• The relationships and accountabilities between the various players need to be set out clearly on paper, but more critical will be ensuring the model works in practice. The right behaviours need to prevail throughout the top team if the new Corporate Management Board is to operate as a truly corporate leadership team.
• The Board should ensure that it is supported and challenged by appropriately skilled and experienced non-executive directors.

Area for action 3 - Improve the Ministry's ability to make prioritisation and resource allocation decisions on the basis of robust data and evidence

• MOJ needs to be clearer about the price it expects to pay for services and better able to challenge suppliers to meet that price. This will ensure that opportunities for greater efficiency are exploited.
• MOJ should also make more of the wealth of experience and expertise located in its regional and local tiers. The extent to which this expertise is drawn on currently varies, but regional and local managers in prisons, probation, the courts and other operational areas are ready and able to play a greater role in central policy and strategy formulation.

Area for action 4 - Address the challenge of building capability across MOJ in an environment of financial constraint

• MOJ needs to address gaps in its HR capability if it is to deal with the forthcoming period of efficiency savings and organisational change whilst leading people development throughout the Ministry.
• The Board should take steps to strengthen the management of MOJ's analytical capability in order to make best use of its currently dispersed resources.
• The Board should also continue to build change and project management capability across the organisation.

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Annex A: The model of capability

The model of capability has been designed specifically for the Capability Reviews. It was developed through consultation with senior leaders in Whitehall and external experts. The model is deliberately selective and designed to focus on the most crucial areas of capability - leadership, strategy and delivery.

The reviews provide an assessment of capability for departments, identify key areas for improvement and set out key actions to address these areas.

The scope of the reviews is to assess the capability of departments' senior leadership in the areas above, using the model of capability. The model enables judgements to be made against 10 elements across leadership, strategy and delivery, using an underlying group of 49 questions.

Each review has been carried out by the Capability Reviews Team with a team of external reviewers assembled specially for the department under review. These reviewers have been drawn from the private sector, the wider public sector and board-level members of other government departments.

The Capability Reviews Team will regularly review progress and provide support to help ensure that the department is on track to deliver.

Leadership

Key questions that test current capability

L1 Set direction

• How do you set a clear direction and articulate the vision to provide a compelling and coherent view of the future?
• How do you take difficult decisions, and do you follow them through?
• How do you generate common ownership of the vision amongst the board, the department and delivery owners?
• How do you maintain focus when faced with crises/system shocks? How do you balance this with the need to keep the vision up to date when circumstances change?

L2 Ignite passion, pace and drive

• Are you seen as role models in the department, inspiring the respect, trust, loyalty and confidence of superiors, peers and staff? Do you talk, listen and act on feedback and thereby demonstrate an understanding of the business?
• Do you display passion about meeting delivery outcomes?
• How do you engage personally with customers and staff in the department and across the system?
• How do you maintain energy and enthusiasm? How do you inspire staff to be proud to work for the organisation?

L3 Take responsibility for leading delivery and change

• Do you drive delivery by: taking responsibility, welcoming challenging feedback on performance and learning lessons from successes and failures?
• How do you role-model an effective corporate culture of teamwork within the system? Do you and the senior leadership team act as an effective guiding coalition and initiate work across boundaries to achieve delivery outcomes?
• Do you accept the pressing need for change? Do you demonstrate your personal commitment to that change?
• How do you manage change effectively? How do you champion and drive through that change, addressing and overcoming resistance when it occurs?
• Are you open, honest, courageous and unflinching in delivering tough messages to your ministers and the department?

L4 Build capability

• How do you nurture talent and encourage innovation in order to build capacity?
• Do you have a leadership development/promotion process that is fair and transparent?
• How do you manage the performance of everyone by rewarding good performance and tackling poor performance?
• Do you get enthusiastically involved in identifying talent and building capability in individuals and teams?
• Do your culture, behaviour and staff profile reflect the diversity of the customers you serve?

Strategy

Key questions that test current capability

S1 Focus on outcomes

• Do you have one overarching set of clear and challenging outcomes, aims and objectives that will improve the overall quality of life for customers and benefit the nation?
• How do you work with ministers to develop strategy?
• How do you negotiate trade-offs between 'priority' policies?
• How do you work with other departments and partners external to government when developing strategy?

S2 Base choices on evidence

• How do you understand what your customers and stakeholders want?
• How do you identify future trends and plan for them? How well do you identify and manage the associated risks?
• How do you innovate by developing creative solutions to challenging problems? How do you ensure appropriate ambition?
• How do you choose between the range of options available?
• Once a strategic challenge has been identified, what process do you follow to address it, and who is involved?
• How do you ensure that your decisions are informed by sound evidence and analysis?
• How do you design systems that deliver your strategic objectives? How do you consider whole systems and understand the cost base?

S3 Build common purpose

• How do you align and enthuse the different players in the delivery chain to deliver?
• How do you remove obstacles to effective joint working? How do you share learning in order to ensure the strategy is delivered?

Delivery

Key questions that test current capability

D1 Plan, resource and prioritise

• Do you have the right skills, resources, structures and plans necessary to deliver the strategy as part of a clear model of delivery?
• Do you prioritise (and de-prioritise) and sequence deliverables, taking account of a proper risk management strategy, focused on change management priorities?
• Are your delivery plans aligned with the strategy? Are they robust and regularly reviewed?
• Are your delivery plans consistent with each other? Do they form a coherent whole that will deliver your strategy?
• How do you maintain a focus on efficiency and value for money?

D2 Develop clear roles, responsibilities and business model(s)

• Is the purpose of the departmental centre and headquarters functions clear?
• How do you ensure you have clear roles and responsibilities, rewards and incentives, which are understood across the delivery chain? Do they reflect the business model(s), and are they supported by appropriate governance arrangements?
• How well do you understand your business model(s)?
• How do you know whether you have the right balance between centralised and decentralised services?
• How do you identify and agree accountabilities and responsibilities for delivering desired outcomes across the delivery chain? How do you make sure that they are clear and well understood by all parties?
• How do you negotiate and contract with delivery agents, stakeholders and partners? How are these agreements documented and shared?

D3 Manage performance

• Do you have high-quality performance information supported by research and analytical capability? Does it allow you to track performance across the delivery chain?
• Do you actively respond to performance issues and follow them up?
• How effective is high-level programme and risk management across the delivery chain?
• How do you ensure and maintain effective control of the department's resources and the quality of its outputs?
• How do you know that your delivery chain understands customer needs and the drivers for satisfaction and responds to them?
• How do you ensure that your delivery chain captures and realises benefits?
• How do you feed this information back into the development of your strategy?

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Annex B: Assessment categories

Strong - good capability for future delivery in place, in line with the capability model. Clear focus on the action and improvement required to deliver transformation over the medium term.

Well placed - well placed to address any gaps in capability for future delivery through practical actions that are planned or already underway. Is making improvements in capability and is expected to improve further in the medium term.

Development area - the department should be capable of addressing some significant weaknesses in capability for future delivery by taking remedial action. More action is required to close those gaps and deliver improvement over the medium term.

Urgent development area - significant weaknesses in capability for future delivery that require urgent action. Not well placed to address weaknesses and needs significant additional action and support to secure effective delivery. Not well placed to deliver improvement over the medium term.

Serious concerns - serious concerns about current capability. Intervention is required to address current weaknesses and secure improvement in the medium term. (NB only used infrequently, for the most serious gaps.)

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