The new UK Government has committed to being ‘mission-driven’ with its efforts on five key areas: growth, the NHS, clean energy, safer streets and opportunity. These missions will be overseen by committees and boards chaired by the prime minister, supported by strong central leadership and external expertise.

However, the specific details of how Whitehall will transition to this new way of operating are still to be defined. To aid in this transition, the Institute for Government and Nesta have set out a recommended approach in this publication for how government could effectively organise itself to deliver missions. It should act as a guide for public servants at the start of a new administration that has pledged to do things differently.

Missions are designed to set bold visions for change, inspiring collaboration across the system and society to break down silos and work towards a common goal. They represent the ultimate purpose of the government, and the story it aims to tell by the end of the parliament.

To succeed, government will need to adopt three key roles: 

• Drive public service innovation: adopt and diffuse existing solutions and pioneer new approaches.
• Shape markets: orchestrate the activities of public agencies and private sector organisations towards a common vision.
• Harness intelligence: rapidly capture the data and knowledge generated by the interaction of groups of citizens of professionals to solve problems, improve decision-making and build buy-in.