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Licence to lead: lessons for public bodies from the pandemic response in health | 517.32 KB |
Leadership in a crisis like the pandemic must come from bodies across the public sector, not just from the centre of government. This requires ministers doing more to understand how arm’s-length bodies (ALBs) operate and giving them the authority to work with confidence – which was not the case with Public Health England in 2020. It also means ALBs themselves earning ministerial confidence.
This report explores how politicians, civil servants and public body leaders worked together under pressure during the pandemic, and says their relationship sometimes suffered from unclear accountability, a blame culture and poor cross-government communication.
Based on interviews with senior civil servants, public body leaders and others close to government’s decision making, the report finds that the centre of government was often unaware of how public bodies worked. It sets out a series of recommendations to allow credible specialist organisations to lead in their spheres of expertise – rather than letting responsibilities fall between the cracks.
The report’s recommendations include: