Reports

Longer form reports, usually focusing on making aspects of government work better - sometimes globally, sometimes in the UK.

Public Digital / Nesta

The Radical How (Greenway & Loosemore, 2024)

People rarely behave in ways we can completely predict. And many of the interventions carried out by governments are directly concerned with people and their behaviour. Yet most governments’ ways of working demand civil servants and ministers accurately predict and design these interventions up-front. In complex environments, this expectation of accurate, up-front prediction is deluded, and increases the risk of expensive failure.

We think a radical new how is needed to change the business of government.

We don’t necessarily need to take big risks. We just need to be more radical in applying what works.

Download in English.

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Inter-American Development Bank

How to Achieve and Sustain Government Digital Transformation (Greenway & Bracken, 2018)

Precis: Digital government is rapidly gathering momentum as an effective way for nations and regions to increase their administrative efficiency, develop resilience, and deliver simpler, clearer, and better services for their citizens and businesses. This report summarizes the conditions and context needed for government digital teams to succeed and be sustained across different administrations. The report explores the conditions needed to establish a digital team, examines the ideal environment to make that team successful, and concludes with the conditions required to help that team sustain as an institution across different political administrations.

Download in English.

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De la información a la inteligencia: ¿Cómo adaptar las instituciones para el análisis de datos en el gobierno? (Kenny, Greenway & Bracken, 2019)

La revolución digital que están experimentando los gobiernos, está llevando a que se planteen programas que mejoren el análisis y uso de dato para plantear políticas públicas más efectivas y eficientes. A pesar de que numerosos gobiernos reconocen la importancia de contar con una adecuada infraestructura de datos, ésta aún no es lo suficientemente confiable. El análisis de datos conlleva varios desafíos, e implica cambios técnicos y organizacionales para poner en práctica iniciativas que faciliten su exploración para mejorar la infraestructura, procedimientos y servicios públicos. En este informe se presentan tres casos de estudio que muestran como los equipos de análisis de datos pueden conformarse dentro de la estructura organizacional del sector público. Así también se detalla una guía para guiar a los gobiernos de la región en la creación equipos de análisis de datos sustentables, exitosos y capaces de brindar valor público.

Download in Spanish.

Nesta

Radical Visions of Future Government (2019)

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Is government fit for purpose? Evaporating public trust in democracy and political institutions, a broken social contract, lack of money and stale ideas mean it feels increasingly difficult to answer that question in the affirmative. It is this fear – that government and our public services are no longer up to the job – that inspired us to launch an open call, seeking radical visions of future government.

Any radical future version of government will go unfulfilled without a radical working of the bureaucratic machine that supports it. Charged with implementing the policies of the government of the day, the Civil Service is often an under-exposed influence on how governments behave.

Attempts at wholescale reform of Britain’s bureaucracy have been infrequent. The most famous was the Northcote-Trevelyan report of 1854. This report follows in its footsteps, written - as Northcote-Trevelyan was - by the Chancellor and most senior Treasury official of 2030.

Download the full report.