The Government have today published an updated set of single departmental plans for 2019-20, covering the duration of the Parliament.
These set out each Government Department’s objectives and how they will achieve them. Taken together, they show how Departments are working to deliver the Government’s programme.
This year, following recommendations from the National Audit Office, the Public Accounts Committee, and the Institute for Government, CO and HMT officials have worked with Departments to improve single departmental plans in three key areas: to ensure that they are more specific, more focused on departmental priorities and include improved performance indicators.
Building on the introduction of equality objectives last year, this year all Departments’ plans include diversity and inclusion indicators to track the Government’s progress in making the civil service the UK’s most inclusive employee. Each plan too reflects the Government’s ambition on diversity in public appointments that, by 2022, 50% of all public appointees are female and 14% of all public appointments made are from ethnic minorities. They also indicate how Departments are contributing to the domestic delivery of the sustainable development goals. For the first time, Departments’ plans incorporate the principles of the public value framework. This is just one of the steps we are taking to have a greater focus on outcomes delivered for taxpayers’ money.
Single departmental plans allow Parliament and the public to track Departments’ progress and performance against a number of indicators. Their annual report and accounts, which will be published in due course, show how a Department has performed against the objectives in their single departmental plan over the course of the last year.
Single departmental plans will be revised annually to reflect new priorities or changes in responsibilities.
[HCWS1667]