Summary of findings
________________________
Taking Stock Review August 7 - October 4, 2006
Aim of the review: The Taking Stock - Fit for the Future review provided the Permanent Secretary with an opportunity to assess how fit the Scottish Executive was to deliver against its future agenda and aspirations.
The review was carried out by five external assessors over two months of intensive evidence gathering and the model used for their assessment was built around three key areas: leadership, strategy and delivery.
The review team concluded that the Scottish Executive had made real progress against both policy making and outward focus and this had been reflected in the positive feedback they had received from stakeholders. They found an impressive commitment amongst staff and stakeholders alike to the high level aim of "improving the well-being of Scotland and its people" and said "The commitment of staff is second to none - people really want to do a good job at all levels".
They also outlined five areas where the organisation was well placed to achieve its goals:
Setting direction
- strong commitment to make devolution work
- owned by staff and stakeholders
Basing choices on evidence
- inclusive approach to policy development
- early engagement of stakeholders in policy development
- decisions informed by evidence and analysis
Building common purposes
- engagement by key players in delivery chain
- work towards outcome agreements
Managing performance
- delivering better services
- monitoring delivery
- delivering Partnership Agreement commitments
Our people
- dedicated staff
- pride in working in the Executive
- leadership development
- role of the Non - Executive Directors
The Review Team identified three areas for action:
1. Making Scotland work better
- Identify a set of objectives shared across the Executive that will deliver the challenging outcomes needed
- Undertake a fundamental review of the delivery landscape across the public sector
- Use "Transforming Public Services" to drive efficiency and value for money across the public sector
2. Leadership
- Redefine roles and responsibilities to clarify and reward contribution to the collective
- Set standards for the way we behave and hold each other to account
- Ask whether the structure is right for the challenges we face
3. Running the Business
- Strengthen challenge across the business
- Take communications seriously
- What is our people strategy? What is our culture? - Lead from the top.
______________________
The Employee Survey: September-October 2006
Results show that we are making progress in comparison to both last year's survey and to other public and private sector organisations. Our strengths have remained similar and in some cases have improved. Our strengths are:
- Team working
- Line Management
- Being able to influence on how you do your job and involvement in setting objectives
- Being treated with fairness and respect
- Making good use of skills and abilities
Some of our areas for improvement have shown increases in positive responses, however our Areas for improvement also remain similar to last year's findings:
- Performance Management
- Senior Management
- Internal Communication
- Taking positive action on the results of the survey
- Financial Management
- Working Environment
______________________
Stakeholder Survey Autumn 2005
The results are positive overall and there has been some improvement in perceptions since the first survey was conducted in autumn 2004.
Key strengths are:
- Being committed to achieving our objectives
- Listening to others
- Being focused on delivery
- Having sensible policies
Other findings include:
Some stakeholders still feel the SE is unclear about its priorities
- Clarity of priorities
- Reluctance to innovate
- Lacking effective leadership
Those who felt the SE is not joined up were asked what problems, if any, this had caused for them
- Poor communication
- Dissemination of information
- Policies not being linked
- Internal disagreements
- Lack of consistency
- Time wasting
- Duplication
Overall view on areas for improvement
- Providing timely and appropriate responses
- Understanding constraints facing stakeholders
- Involving stakeholders at an early stage
- Willing to take their views on board
- Openly sharing information
- In policy making, being clear about what is open for change
News Archive