Innovation in the Public Sector
I have just read an interesting report by the National Audit Office entitled, Achieving Innovation in Central Government Organisations. It was prepared by the public policy group at the London School of Ecomonics for the NAO. It draws on evidence from 125 specific innovation cases in the public sector to asses government poductivity and effectiveness at innovation.
Among the findings are ‘There is scope for government to take a more systematic approach to developing innovations by communicating more simply to staff what kinds of innovations are helpful, encouraging counter-cultural thinking and methods for finding innovative solutions, and ensuring that approval and piloting processes are not over-protracted. Departments can learn lessons from the private sector in developing more regular and serial innovations.’
One problem is that the innovation process in central government is top-down with few contributions from lower-level staff. There is also a reluctance to embrace new ways of working and fragmentation between agencies.
There is innovation in the public sector but it takes a long time to get implemented. There is plenty of advice in the report on how to improve things and there are many examples of successful innovations. Here is one that caught my eye:
The Home Office introduced an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system, allowing number plates to be captured on digital cameras and cross-checked with wanted or suspect vehicle databases. A pilot project began in 2003. Officers using ANPR technology have achieved arrest rates nine times the national average.
Paul Sloane