Organisational Capability Review Programme

Action 20 of the Civil Service Renewal Plan (2014) provided for the implementation of a Programme of Organisational Capability Reviews aimed at embedding a culture of regular assessments of the capability of Departments and Offices to achieve their objectives. The Civil Service Renewal Action Plan (2021) recommitted to “an enhanced and accelerated model of delivery for the Organisational Capability Review Programme”. Since 2016, nine reviews have been completed under the programme.

Views are gathered on a confidential basis under the four themes of:

• Leadership,
• Strategy and Policy-making
• Delivery
• Business Support Functions

Each review is informed by staff workshops and one-to-one interviews, internally and externally, as well as policy-related documents, corporate reports, the results of the most recent Civil Service Employee Engagement Surveys and other secondary research relating to the organisations reviewed.

The Programme involves participation and oversight as follows:

• Capability Review Team: The reviews are undertaken by the Capability Review Team which is based is the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. For each review, the Team prepares a draft report incorporating evidence, findings and recommendations for consideration by an External Review Panel.
• External Review Panel: An External Review Panel is established for each review and is comprised of a retired Secretary General (Chair), a serving Secretary General, an external consultant and a member of the academic community. The Panel’s role is ‘to review, validate, edit and finalise the report prepared by the Team’, although it is not involved in undertaking the work of any review itself. The Panel also contributes to the operational and strategic development of the OCR Programme.
• Management Board: When a Review Report is finalised, the Management Board of the organisation reviewed prepares an Implementation Plan that maps onto the recommendations put forward. Following Government approval, the Capability Review Report and Implementation Plan are published together by the organisation reviewed.

The following eight reports arising from the Programme of Organisational Capability Reviews have been published to date. The ninth review (Central Statistics Office) is due to be published in Q4 2024.

• Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport - Reviewand Implementation Plan
• Courts Service - Review and Implementation Plan
• Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation
• Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht
• Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government - Review and Implementation Plan
• Department of Rural and Community Development
• Department of Defence
• Office of Public Works (OPW)

A Synthesis Paper, which draws together the principal findings from the six completed capability reviews, was prepared for the Civil Service Management Board in January, 2021 Synthesis Paper - Programme of Organisational Capability Reviews - Findings and Learnings

Additionally, a Journal Article, which summarises the Synthesis Paper, was published by the Institute of Public Administration in the spring edition of Administration IPA Article: Programme of Organisational Capability Reviews – Findings and Learnings