Government Can't Move Fast Because...

...there are too many ALBs?

public policy UK

Caveat: everyone, politicians, journalists, public are doing their best, but we're not using the right mediums to make sense of these problems. Either collectively or individually, we can't use the old tools to solve all of the new types of problems we're facing.

WikiSim in a nutshell...

Watching Dominic Cummings on How Government Really Works, Lords Evidence, from parliamentlive.tv

Suggested problems


  • Talent density is missing - talent goes elsewhere - hedge funds etc.
  • Responsibility not been taking by ministers
    • and they don't want to take it
    • under pressure they unfairly blame civil servants who can't answer back
  • Can't move quickly
    • ALBs slow it down? - Lady Laing ref

Also mentioned


  • Too much control / responsibility taken by cabinet office
  • Treasury closes down ideas - why? - cost?
  • Chicken and egg - lack of talent in parliament limits ability to select for top talent & hold to account in civil service.
  • PM & ministers did not even know they could appoint anyone to be a minister.

Suggestions


  • A confident, committed, capable leader (prime minister)
  • Go back to 1840s where ministers take responsibility
  • Civil service appointments should shift from closed by default to open by default ref

"All these things have been said so often before" - Lord Bichard ref

Things I would also have liked to have heard discussed


  • growth in complexity of environment (new plants, food species, pathogens, etc), technology, geographical, cultural, political environments
  • sense-making crisis / information ecosystem
  • thinking about how we think - what mediums we use -- I think the alledged problem of ALBs could be resolved if we had a shared sense making medium specifically a suitable rich simulation / digital twin with the data and models to power it so that before you even propose your policy it's already empowered and aligned (limited) by the other stakeholders / experts / ALBs. This allows you to move fast and maximise wisdom from across all stakeholders & experts.
  • deep-cause-and-effect - it felt like the discussion went one or two levels deeper but when asked "what we can do" it did not seem to be bottoming out and finding multiple contributing factors and all the necessary - but missing - conditions / co-dependencies for originating the desired outcomes / states.