Innovation scheme ‘going unchecked’
The Government’s ‘Invest to Save Budget’, a scheme designed to promote innovation in public services, has been criticised for a lack of checks.
The Commons public accounts committee has criticised the lack of checks on hundreds of projects undertaken as part of the scheme, claiming that this makes it hard to assess what has been achieved and what lessons can be learned.
The government has spent hundreds of millions of pounds on a range of ideas put forward, each designed to improve efficiency and value of public service delivery.
But the report has argued that much of the benefit remains unfulfilled because there is no assessment of each idea, and thus the best practices are not shared with other services, departments and institutions.
One proposal put forward by the committee is to create a senior position of innovation champion in each department, so as to promote and co-ordinate new ideas and schemes.
The report also noted that few of the ideas that came forward were cutting edge ideas, and recommended changing the project name may bring more people forward with suggestions as the present one implies a focus on making savings rather than improving services.
And there was further warning that a lack of assessment can lead to public money being wasted, because schemes might be expanded while those involved are not aware that the results are not good.
