Mr. Ian Talbot:

I will make three quick points on this. First, I am not sure there is still enough experience in various Departments to do a proper analysis. For a long time we did not have to do much analysis because the needles kept going up, but now we need analysis to decide what we want to invest in, withdraw investment from, or whatever. I am not sure the staff have the experience and expertise in sufficient quantities. For example, it is difficult to work out how the concept and execution of the health levy was arrived at.

The culture of risk-taking in the public service is very much that one should not make a mistake and end up in front of the Committee of Public Accounts with egg on one's face, and that drives decision making. It is not a good place to be. Businesses succeed because business people are prepared to take risks and analyse them. One must take risks to move forward, but the culture is not to make a decision at all or to retain the status quo rather than take a risk and make a decision because of the consequences if it does not work out. The reality is that if one takes risks they will not all work out, but if one has a good, balanced portfolio that has been analysed properly, a sufficient number will work out that one will be better off in the end.

My final point is about the speed of implementation. There are certain things that can be done, should be done and need to be done and that everyone agrees must be done, and it could take two years to do them. We need the right focus to get things over the line. One is better off focusing on a small number of actions and doing them properly than having 150 things going and completing none. Speed of implementation is key.

I do not like the phrase "public sector reform", particularly the word "reform". It is much more about evolution. There are now tools, capabilities, etc., that did not exist five years or 50 years ago and we all need to evolve with those. It is an evolution, not a reform. Evolution carries much less stigma. Reform always brings with it the suggestion that one has done something wrong. Evolution merely suggests that one is moving forward with the times.