1. Growth as the defining vision 

• Politicians must change the narrative so that public services are explicitly considered as an active contributor to economic growth. Government departments should outline in their departmental plans how they are contributing to growth.
• The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology should take the lead in identifying Britain’s growth potential and in sharing responsibility across government for delivering on this potential.
• Financial decision-makers - starting with HM Treasury - must change their approach to  evaluating wider economic benefits and capital expenditure: in particular investing to ensure successful infrastructure developments, and banking on green technologies and lifelong skills to offer healthy Return on Investment.

2. Citizen needs first: life-changing outcomes, not soundbites

• Use deliberation to find out what outcomes people care about, leveraging digital tools to make this quick and easy.
• Find tractable KPIs, and monitor them closely to guide decision-making.
• Modify processes to incentivise the prioritisation of longer-term outcomes: Funding for projects should be released for more extended fruition periods but with more frequent monitoring and evaluation points as a condition.

3. Embracing uncertainty: agile cross-government programmes, focused on missions

• Take a context-based approach to managing uncertainty and risk:
• Cultivate an active learning culture across public services, modelled on digital ‘communities of practice’ and replicated across policy and operations.

4. Skills and partnerships: building state capabilities whilst leveraging third and private sector partnerships

• Deliver outcomes programmatically, signing up accountable bodies to time-bound and measurable deliverables.
• Experiment with partnership models with the third and private sectors, leveraging the opportunity to boost capacity, capability, and skills on demand.
• Focus development of procurement capabilities across government, both in central and wider public service bodies.

5. Digital public infrastructure: foundational state technologies to create an ecosystem of innovation

• Stimulate the creation, storage and curation of data, to be accessed by government services (via APIs) – effectively decoupling outmoded government department models from the information upon which public services are run.
• Share data safely and securely between services, between citizens and services, and with trusted parties (e.g., researchers), unlocking the power of artificial intelligence in the process.
• Invest in digital identification as the gateway to services and benefits.
• Allow citizens to consent, review and edit any information which may be shared, accessed or created regarding themselves.
• Empower a bolstered Government Digital Service with the skills, authority and mandate to drive the safe creation of this new technological infrastructure - the recent consolidation of GDS, Central Digital and Data Office and the Incubator for AI within DSIT will help to facilitate.
• Accelerate the growth and standing of the Digital, Data and Technology profession across public sector bodies.

A bolder and better state

Whilst the changes outlined are significant, it’s important to note two factors. First, none of them are entirely new. They have either already been achieved by public servants in the UK, but not scaled out, or are partially inflight but poorly funded. This is all in the realm of the possible. And second, the state is a monumental entity or collection of entities. For any changes to happen requires bold thinking and leadership. This has happened in the past: figures such as Lloyd George, William Beveridge, or more recently, Martha-Lane Fox have had bold visions which have successfully transformed all or some of the state. It is a time for such boldness again, one which sees a shift from the post-war welfare state to one focused on wealth - in its widest sense of assets, income and wellbeing - for all.

Click here to read the full paper with our recommendations. 

Authors: Antonio Weiss, Katie Burns, Jonathan Chappell, Mark Ray