Part 2
7 Corporate Planning and Review7.1 In Part 1 of this report we concluded that the Royal Commission has a continuing purpose and role and that its functions should not be transferred to any other body. Our main concern, reported in Chapter 3, was the absence of any clear process for articulating what the Commission hopes to achieve through the particular pieces of work it undertakes, what audiences it seeks to address in order to achieve the desired influence, and to what extent the outcomes achieved match up to those intended. Whilst acknowledging the difficulties, we suggested that the apparent lacuna should be addressed through development of the Commission's processes for corporate planning and review.
7.2 In this chapter we set out the rationale for giving priority to the development of an effective corporate planning system, and make recommendations about changes needed to existing arrangements. In the following chapter we propose a new framework defining the relationship between the Commission and the Department, and show how the corporate planning system fits within that framework. In Chapter 9, we look at the Commission's internal working methods, including implications flowing from our recommendations on corporate planning, and we report on issues related to working methods which were raised with us in interviews.
Corporate planning principles
7.3 Robust corporate planning and review arrangements provide a structured basis for an organisation to
- set clear objectives for the year ahead and for the longer term, including intended impacts and outcomes;
- draw up a programme of work tailored to deliver the planned outcomes;
- review and evaluate performance through reference back to objectives including intended impacts and outcomes; and
- reflect on review of outcomes to inform future strategy, objective setting and task definition. In addition the corporate planning process provides a basis for reviewing resource requirements and bidding for any necessary adjustments.
7.4 For the organisation concerned, the corporate planning process promotes collective ownership within the organisation of aims as well as means (including timetables) and provides a basis for prioritising tasks and making adjustments. In relation to the outside world, the transparency of the organisation's aims and processes can be improved through publication of annual corporate and business plans and annual reports.
7.5 For the Department providing funding, the corporate planning and review processes of an organisation provide the basis both for reassurance that the organisation knows what it is aiming to achieve and has the capacity to deliver, and for evaluation of the organisation's achievements. Thus the corporate planning arrangements provide the fundamental underpinning to confidence in the value of an organisation and hence the provision of reassurance to the Departmental Accounting Officer that public expenditure on the organisation is justified.
Royal Commission - existing corporate planning arrangements
7.6 Several key elements of a corporate planning system for the Royal Commission are either already in place or in process of being developed following the Commission's Internal Review of Working Methods in 1997/8. These include7.7 What seems to be missing at present are principally:
- planning documentation:
annual statement of objectives for forthcoming year, sent to DETR as part of resource allocation process drawn up and agreed by the Commission;
Forward Look, summarising aims for five year period, including provisional timetables, and subjects being considered for study. This was introduced in 1998 on the recommendation of the Commission's internal review of working methods, and is available on the Commission's web site;
annual resource planning statement, including forecast expenditure outturn, predicted staffing levels, estimated expenditure, and any implications for future resources of current work. This is prepared for DETR.- review documentation:
end year evaluation of achievement against objectives; prepared for the Commission and seen by DETR
annual stewardship report, prepared for DETR, commenting on previous year's expenditure in relation to planned provision, and adequacy of various financial and assets management systems;
annual report (proposed following the Commission's internal review of working methods, not yet produced).
- a goal directed context for the statement of both long and short term aims and objectives, identifying intended influence, impacts and outcomes (i.e. emphasising objectives rather than descriptions of planned activities);
- a clear basis for prioritising the Commission's various activities, linked to its priority objectives;
- attention at the outset of studies to indicators of performance which could help with subsequent evaluation. While acknowledging the complexities (see Chapter 3 above), and recognising the limited if any value of mechanistic measurements, we suggest there is a need to develop indicators of the extent to which intended outcomes are achieved, as opposed to mere performance of processes or delivery of planned outputs;
- a framework for reviewing performance within the proposed annual report, including a means of producing evaluations of studies (see also Chapter 9 below on evaluation); and
- a clear timetable for production of each of the corporate planning documents and commitment to their delivery - at present some of these activities tend to be given relatively low priority by the Commission.
7.8 We suggest there is scope for rationalising and simplifying the Commission's current corporate planning documentation while at the same time developing the key documents to address these perceived weaknesses. The aim of our proposals is to promote improved effectiveness without imposing unnecessary bureaucracy.
Proposals for simplification and development
7.9 We suggest that, in line with recommended practice in the Department's sponsored bodies, the Commission should produce every year at the beginning of the financial year:
- a Corporate Plan defining at strategic level for the next five years future direction, priorities, intended impacts and goals, including indicators;
- a Business Plan setting out more detailed objectives and priorities for the coming year in terms of outcomes rather than processes;
- an Annual Report reviewing performance over the past year and including evaluations of studies three years after publication.
7.10 These documents would replace all of the existing documentation including the annual stewardship report to DETR and would all be in the public domain.
7.11 Reflecting the independence from government of the Royal Commission, we suggest that the documents should not be subject to Ministerial approval.
7.12 To the extent that the Department requires certain information to be included in the Commission's documentation, we suggest that this should be specified through the proposed Framework Document which is discussed in the following chapter.
7.13 The intention is that the corporate planning process should develop into the Commission's central working tool, a living process from which all its activities flow, not just an artificial add-on to satisfy centrally imposed requirements or the whims of bureaucrats.
7.14 We recommend that, in order to address perceived weaknesses in the Commission's planning and review arrangements, the Commission should give priority to developing for the year 2000/2001 a corporate planning system based on an annual corporate and business plan and an annual report. This would rationalise and simplify the existing planning and review documentation and would develop it in a goal directed context focusing on impacts and outcomes.
Published 19 April 2000 / Updated 11 May 2000
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