New Cabinet Office Minister, John Glen has outlined his long-term priorities for modernising the Cabinet Office in a speech at the Institute for Government’s annual conference which took place yesterday (23 January 2024).
Glen said in his speech that his ambition was to make the Cabinet Office a more productive institution by focusing on three key priorities.
This included increasing the digital transformation within government by unlocking new technologies, streamlining and simplifying how government operates and addressing the talent shortage and retention.
With A.I, Glen argued that the technology could hold the key for improving the government’s digital transformation and that it could help across multiple areas of the Civil Service.
He said: Much of the focus is on how we in Government use AI, but I am clear that is not an inevitable solution.
“AI will only work if it’s properly embedded, if it’s clear why and how we’re using it, and that civil servants get the right training and support to use it well.
“I’m pleased to say we are already taking exciting first steps to unlock the benefits of generative AI, ensuring that our AI teams are working with industry experts, in order to solve some of the public sector’s most pressing problems.”
Glen also highlighted that some of the issues faced by the Civil Service we’re not necessarily new but also acknowledged that it needed to be nimbler and more open to innovation to improve productivity and keep pace with the private sector.
“We must improve to keep pace with innovation in the private sector. For too long, productivity in the public sector has not been a high-enough priority, we have thrown more people at our biggest challenges, but have more to do to embrace the potential of technology and innovative ways of working.”, Glen said.
Glen also highlighted the work already been undertaken in this area with the merging of 200 different systems into one whilst also relocating 16,000 staff across the country to reflect the needs of the country better.
As well as improving productivity and digital transformation, Glen pointed out that his third priority to improve the workforce through various initiatives including reviewing pay structures and performance management. He also announced that guidance on impartiality and staff operations would be published shortly.
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