(2) in which areas the quality of briefing to Ministers has been diminished as a result of weaknesses in the Department’s policy-making, as stated on page 22 of the Capability Review of the Department, published on 22 June 2007;
(3) which parts of his Department are not confident in the use of (a) economic and social analysis and (b) evidence to support policy-making, as stated on page 21 of the Capability Review of the Department, published on 22 June 2007.
The purpose of departmental 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 United Kingdom to meet the considerable challenges of the future.
The Cabinet Office’s Capability Review of the Department was based on evidence from the Department itself, interviews and meetings with a wide range of external stakeholders, as well as a cross-section of departmental staff. The judgments reflect a considered overall view of the Department, and the permanent secretaries have welcomed the report as a timely and valuable assessment of the Department as a whole, and the challenges it faces, including challenges in the area of policy-making. However neither this nor any other review was designed to provide a comprehensive picture of the particular strengths and weaknesses of individual parts of departments and their work.
The report describes the aspects of policy-making that are not consistently strong. The Department is already taking action on these. Better policy-making, the Department’s plans for a system of policy governance to improve policy-making capability across the organisation, was published in April 2007. In addition, the Department’s analytical capability has been relocated from central teams to individual policy directorates to improve the use of evidence in policy-making, and a horizon scanning capability is being established to bolster the Department’s ability to predict future trends in healthcare.