Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden Pledges to Make Government More Agile with £100 Million Innovation Fund..reports Asian Lite News
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden has vowed to transform the UK government into a more agile, startup-like entity through a bold new initiative. Launching a £100 million Innovation Fund, McFadden announced plans to deploy “test-and-learn” reform teams across the country, aiming to tackle some of the public sector’s most pressing challenges.
Speaking at University College London’s East Campus in Stratford, McFadden outlined a vision of government adopting the iterative, experimental culture of Silicon Valley.
“If we keep governing as usual, we are not going to achieve what we want to achieve,” he warned.
The initiative is part of the government’s Plan for Change, a program unveiled by Prime Minister Keir Starmer to improve public services, boost the economy, and rebuild Britain.
McFadden emphasized that the public sector could learn from the best practices of digital companies, adopting a “test-and-learn culture.” He described the approach as iterative, where “the most important question isn’t, ‘How do we get this right the first time?’ It’s ‘How do we make this better by next Friday?’”
The Innovation Fund will enable small, flexible teams to experiment with new ways to improve public services. Instead of relying on lengthy policy documents and rigid strategies, these teams will be given specific problems to solve and the freedom to innovate.
The initiative will begin with two pilot projects in Manchester, Sheffield, Essex, and Liverpool starting in January 2025.
The first project focuses on reducing the costs of temporary accommodation, while the second aims to increase the reach of family hubs for disadvantaged families. These hubs are intended to provide comprehensive support to struggling households, from education to health and social services.
“We’re not going to dictate how they do that,” McFadden said. “The central point of these test-and-learns is that we set them a problem and then leave them to get on with it. They’ll be empowered to experiment and find new and innovative ways to fix problems.”
If successful, the program will expand to tackle more complex issues, such as reducing the need for temporary accommodation altogether and finding innovative paths into employment for vulnerable populations.
In a bid to modernize the civil service, McFadden announced a push to simplify the “mind-bogglingly bureaucratic” recruitment processes. He acknowledged that the current system is overly complex and often deters highly skilled candidates from outside government.
“To attract the best people, we need to fundamentally overhaul how recruitment is carried out across the civil service,” McFadden said. “Applications can take days to fill in, and if you don’t understand the civil service process, good external candidates can find it near impossible to jump through the hoops.”
The government will also encourage workers from startups and tech companies to join the civil service for six-to-twelve-month “Tours of Duty.” These temporary assignments, part of the No 10 Innovation Fellows Programme, will allow private sector experts to apply their skills to critical national missions, such as reforming healthcare and criminal justice.
McFadden emphasized the need to incorporate insights from frontline public service workers, including prison governors, social work heads, and directors of children’s services. These professionals will be encouraged to take up secondments in central government to help shape the Plan for Change.
“They are the ones on the ground who can see how things are working, where the obstacles are, and where a policy won’t survive contact with reality,” McFadden said. “Now we want them to be part of the solution.”
McFadden contrasted this new, innovative approach with what he described as the “headline-grabbing gimmicks” of the previous government. He argued that while each individual project may seem small, collectively, they have the potential to “rewire the state one test at a time.”
The first wave of test-and-learn teams will work in collaboration with local councils, businesses, and organizations, forging partnerships to find practical solutions to long-standing problems.
“These are initiatives that seek to restore our crumbling public services, and they will demonstrate a new way of doing government,” McFadden said.
The launch of the £100 million Innovation Fund is a clear signal of the government’s commitment to addressing systemic issues in the public sector. By fostering innovation, simplifying recruitment, and leveraging frontline expertise, McFadden hopes to create a state that is not only more efficient but also more responsive to the needs of its citizens.
“If we want to rebuild Britain, we need to embrace change,” McFadden concluded. “This is just the beginning, but I am confident that with the right mindset and the right people, we can transform the way we govern.”
As the test-and-learn teams prepare to launch their first projects in early 2025, the success of this initiative could serve as a blueprint for a more adaptive and innovative government in the years to come.
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