Learning and innovation in government : forty-third report of session 2008-09, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence

This report examines learning from success and failure, the barriers to learning and innovation, sharing ideas and knowledge, and the role of the centre in promoting this agenda.

To find more efficient and effective ways of delivering services with reduced resources, government needs to learn from past experiences, and identify and implement innovative ways of tackling problems.

Innovation involves trying new things, some of which ultimately will not work.

So experimentation is necessary, but with public money at stake, government needs to be able to halt ineffective activities quickly and learn lessons from them.

Projects examined by the Committee have suffered from a lack of available project management skills and a failure to nurture those they do have.

A lack of good management information is still a hindrance in some cases, and inhibits understanding the impact of innovation. There are a number of barriers to change in government, including: poor sharing of knowledge across organisational boundaries; risk-averse attitudes which both stifle innovation and prevent lessons being learned; learning and innovation not being built routinely into staff appraisals and competency frameworks; too few ideas being generated from service users, suppliers and other organisations, and their own front-line staff, and many staff considering they do not have the incentives to learn or to innovate.

The Committee presents a list of principles which are fundamental to learning and innovation, and departments should reflect upon the extent to which these principles underpin their own culture and practices.