chapter five innovation and entrepreneurship in government “We say to business that it must be innovative. That we are entering a knowledge economy. The same applies to Government. Too often there is a fear of risk and change and experiment.......But if we are to raise our game, then a lot of talent in the Civil Service needs to be tapped into.” The Rt Hon Tony Blair MP, Prime Minister, Modernising Central Government conference, October 1998 5.1 Government is a major player in the knowledge driven economy. It depends on the intangible assets of people and skills. Government needs to learn and innovate as much as the private sector and it must create new mechanisms for sharing ideas and best practice. Just as the UK needs more entrepreneurs in business, it needs a new generation of innovators in the public sector. The traditional public sector virtues of honesty, probity and neutrality must be combined with a new stress on problem solving, innovation and creativity. Civil servants and public sector managers must deliver more value from public assets. Government- wide initiatives 5.2 The Government has a good record of learning from others and developing new management approaches – for example, in the areas of public private partnerships and the use of information and communication technologies. But it needs to go further. The Government is therefore making radical changes to modernise the way it works. A new approach to policy-making 5.3 The Government has created a Performance and Innovation Unit in the Cabinet Office to focus on issues that cross departmental boundaries and to seek out innovation to improve delivery of government objectives. A new Centre for Management and Policy Studies will develop new approaches to policy and management. This Centre will also commission research into innovation in strategy and delivery, and act as a storehouse for best practice in the public sector and elsewhere. 5.4 An Invest to Save Budget worth £150 million over three years will provide practical help for central and local government to develop projects bringing together two or more public bodies to deliver services in an innovative and more efficient way. 5.5 A new Productivity and Competitiveness Cabinet Committee chaired by the Chancellor of the Exchequer will scrutinise policies and regulations to ensure that they do not create unnecessary barriers to productivity and competitiveness or the level of competition in the economy. Making best use of new technologies 5.6 The Government has set stretching targets for digital government. . By March 2001, 90 per cent by volume of routine procurement of goods by central government will be conducted electronically. . By 2002, 25 per cent of government services will be accessible electronically. The Government will publish details of Departments’ performance against this target from Spring 1999. It will also review whether the target is sufficiently challenging to ensure that the UK is at the forefront of international best practice. 5.7 Action to achieve these targets will include: . extending the Government Secure Intranet to provide a network for the whole of government and desk-top access to the Internet for all civil servants . extending the use of the government procurement card for electronic purchases . making much wider use of digital signatures and intelligent electronic forms, including early adoption by the Revenue Departments so that individuals can make tax returns electronically . making Government web-sites easier to use . electronic links direct from customer businesses to government services for exporters, both in the UK and in posts abroad, including through TradeUK . developing new and improved electronic services including the proposed Single Business Register and an enquiry database to provide business with easy access to regulatory information. 5.8 The Better Government White Paper, to be published in Spring 1999, will set out how these and other initiatives will be taken forward to create a more strategic approach to policy making, and a more coordinated approach to the delivery of services. It will also explain the Government’s strategy for exploiting the potential of new technologies. DTI’s role 5.9 DTI, as a champion of innovation, will play a major part in this active renewal of the public service, which will bring changes to the organisation, technology, management and culture of government. DTI will also champion business needs in government. . DTI will set up an Enterprise Unit to act as a focal point for the Department’s work on the entrepreneurship agenda. . DTI will establish a Knowledge Management Unit. The new unit will pursue projects to put the Department at the forefront of knowledge management. As a first step it will hold a seminar for senior managers to learn first hand how the best organisations inside and outside government use knowledge management to enhance performance. . DTI will carry forward the work of the Future Unit to champion the knowledge driven economy. Its first report25 considered the convergence of digital technologies and the implications for companies and markets over the next ten years. The Unit is currently looking at the future of self-employment and portfolio working in the knowledge driven economy. . DTI will provide better information for SMEs on how to obtain advice and help, building on the Enterprise Zone web-site. 5.10 DTI will also appoint an implementation manager to push forward the programme of work set out in this White Paper – working with three cross-cutting teams reporting directly to the Secretary of State to develop policy and action on the capabilities, collaboration and competition issues described in this White Paper. 25 Converging Technologies: Consequences for the Knowledge Driven Economy, September 1998.