SIAG is committed to engagement with, and within, the area of focus that has become known as ‘transformational government’. The Transformational Government strategy, which included Transformational Local Government, and was published in Nov 2005, gave a distinct government ‘flavour’ to a range of issues that had been generally and loosely referred to as ‘business transformation’.
No specific or generally agreed definition existed for that phrase within government which was a recipe for either a free for all in terms of claiming and defining the ground or, more likely, an excuse for inaction. The emergence of the strategy focussed the agenda around 3 general areas across the whole of government:
- Citizen and business focussed service
- Shared services
- Professionalism
Although very general, this began to focus upon areas that are widely agreed to be of central importance in government’s drive towards greater effectiveness and efficiency.
From the earliest discussions around the development of a strategy to feedback and consultation and more specific focus upon individual elements SIAG has been involved with stakeholders and partners to ensure that our members views and concerns are adequately and accurately reflected.
Our ongoing engagement in each of the main areas of the strategy, with central and local government colleagues as well as private sector organisations, highlights our belief that ‘transformational government’ is central to the modernisation and efficiency agendas and far too important to leave exclusively in the hands of central government policy units.
One of the more important concepts within the strategy is that of government needing to be transformed and of the results being transformational from the perspective of service users (citizens and businesses).
SIAG is proactively involved at both the policy and operational ends of the transformational spectrum working on models of transformation and policy with a range of participants as well as being involved in the detailed implementation plans of various programmes to ensure they live up to the ‘transformational’ aspirations incorporated into their development plans and marketing literature.
We are committed to seeing transformation happen, for the benefit of citizens, rather than simply hearing it talked about.