A modern machine: smarter, faster, mission-driven

The experience of the pandemic shows just how quickly government can act when the mission is clear, processes streamlined, and teams are empowered to get on and deliver. It also showed the scale of the opportunity if government retains and builds on that way of working. The ‘Declaration on Government Reform’ sets out a vision for just such a modern, agile and high-performing machine, and commits to immediate action on driving innovation and embedding data-driven decision-making.

Underpinning all of this must be a relentless focus on outcomes-driven, digital transformation. While the pandemic provided a burning platform for moving services online, this is not the same thing as digital transformation. The latter requires process redesign, with technologists embedded from the earliest stages of policy development. It also means taking a longer-term view of the value of digital investment, and a cross-government approach to maximise the benefits. Only by getting these foundations right can government take advantage of more advanced technologies, which in turn will lead to a smarter, higher productivity machine.

Reform is delighted to host this roundtable, led by Gina Gill, Chief Digital Information Officer for Ministry of Justice.

This roundtable event is kindly sponsored by BT, and will be held under Chatham House rules.