Ó An Roinn Caiteachais Phoiblí, Seachadta ar an bPlean Forbartha Náisiúnta, agus Athchóirithe
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The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath TD has today (Wednesday, 11th November) launched Making Innovation Real, the Public Service Innovation Strategy.
This new Public Service Innovation Strategy coordinates the Government’s ambitions and commitment to grow innovation across Ireland’s Public Service. The Strategy incorporates commitments from the Programme for Government, notably in relation to the establishment of a Policy Innovation Office. It provides for much greater involvement of citizens in working with our public servants to develop policy responses to meet their needs. It also calls for higher levels of collaboration amongst organisations and sectors across the public service.
The development and production of this Strategy was part of an EU funded project, under the European Commission’s Structural Reform Support Service.
Commenting on the launch of this strategy, Minister McGrath said:
“At its very essence the objective of innovation in the public service is to ensure that vital services are provided to people in a more timely and efficient manner. In a short space of time, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced governments throughout the world to change the way they organise their activities to meet the needs of the public. Ireland’s Public Service has responded admirably in this transformed environment, quickly developing new channels to deliver services to citizens, whilst simultaneously taking measures to mitigate the pervasive impact of the virus on our economy and society. As we plan our recovery from this unprecedented economic shock, it is imperative that we identify ways to sustain the enhanced culture of innovation that has featured prominently across our Public Service since the onset of this pandemic.”
The Public Service Innovation Strategy has identified four key priority areas to be addressed. These priorities are supported by a number of key actions that will be taken in order to achieve our vision of Ireland having a truly world-class, innovative Public Service:
Coordination of the delivery of this Strategy will be managed by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform’s Reform and Innovation Division. To ensure its success, it is vital that Public Service organisations begin considering and identifying their own innovation ambitions.
In recognition of this need, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has also developed guidance, supports and toolkits to assist Public Service organisations to set their own innovation goals and actions and to incorporate these activities into their corporate strategies and business plans. These were developed using a piloting approach with four Public Service organisations: the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine, the Courts Service, the Local Government Management Agency and Monaghan County Council.
Concerning the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform’s role in supporting Public Service reform and modernisation, Secretary General Robert Watt said:
“Over the last number of years, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has put in place a number of key initiatives designed to promote a culture of innovation in the Public Service. These include a Public Service Innovation Fund: a strong and diverse Innovation Network; as well as structured innovation training and learning supports. These interventions are now being further complemented by this Public Service Innovation Strategy. The strategy includes guidance and toolkits to enable Public Service organisations to incorporate innovation into their own corporate strategies and business plans. I strongly encourage all Public Service bodies to make use of these supports and tools to deepen a culture of innovation across our Public Service.”
Commenting further, Minister McGrath said:
“The response to Covid-19 has highlighted the ingenuity and resourcefulness of our public servants. This pandemic has seen unprecedented levels of collaboration, inventiveness and organisational agility combined with grit and determination. These are markers of a truly innovative Public Service and I am confident that the implementation of this Public Service Innovation Strategy will help us to sustain this trend into the future.”
ENDS
Notes for Editors:
Background:
In 2017, the Department applied to the European Commission’s Structural Reform Support Service to fund a study on the maturity level of Ireland’s public service innovation ecosystem. The findings of this report, ‘Enabling Innovation in the Irish Public Service’, indicated that Ireland’s Public Service innovation maturity level was particularly low against comparator countries.
This report contained a number of key recommendations. Two of the core recommendations from the report were to:
In order to pursue this further piece of work, an additional application was made to the European Commission’s Structural Reform Support Service to provide expert assistance in responding to these recommendations. The application was successful and an implementation partner, EY, was appointed by the European Commission to coordinate this piece of work in January 2020.
Development of the Strategy:
A key objective of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in progressing this initiative was to operationalise innovation by providing an overarching Innovation Strategy for the entire Public Service which can cascade to all Public Service Organisations.
The approach involved the development of a framework that permits organisations to align to a national innovation vision and national priorities for the whole Public Service, whilst simultaneously affording them the flexibility to develop goals and actions that are uniquely relevant to their own operations and policy responsibilities.
The Programme Team worked with key representatives from across the Public Service including experts and practitioners in public service innovation to develop the ‘Public Service Innovation Strategy’.
Pilot organisations tested the feasibility of the broader Public Service Innovation Strategy to ascertain the feasibility of translating the overarching vision, priorities and goals into an individual organisational innovation pillar/strategy which would be owned and implemented by the organisation.
To test and refine this approach, four pilot organisations agreed to collaborate with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in the programme, namely:
As part of this programme, each pilot organisation undertook significant work to measure their level of organisational innovation, identify where enhancements could be made, set future ambitions for innovation and develop their strategy/pillar and implementation plan for their organisation reflective of national guidance.
Next Steps:
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will communicate details of the Public Service Innovation Strategy, the Innovation Strategy Development Guidance Document and associated support documents to Government Departments and Public Service organisations.
All documents, tools and supports will be provided in electronic format and will be made available online to Departments, Offices, Bodies and Agencies.
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will also provide details of upcoming workshops being scheduled over the coming weeks and months which will enable officials to understand the guidance material and navigate the relevant tools.
The vision, priorities and goals articulated in this Strategy will form a central component in the development of the forthcoming next phase of Public Service Reform and Civil Service Renewal.