Collaboration in Focus: Cross-Government Working
Author WIG Date 7 Sep 2023
with an expert panel including Siân Jones, Director, Cross-Government Value for Money, National Audit Office
Join us for this live panel event to learn more about the new Cross-government working report to discover what effective cross-government working looks like and some of the challenges from expert speakers including Siân Jones, Director, Cross-Government Value for Money, National Audit Offic
In July 2023 the National Audit Office (NAO) published a report focusing on ‘Lessons learned: Cross-government working’ to help provide guidance on how and when to best collaborate across departments to achieve policy objectives. Delivering major policy priorities will often sit across departments. Efforts to deliver net zero, skills, levelling up or infrastructure will require collaboration across teams sat in very different parts of Whitehall and well beyond this.
With this in mind, WIG is delighted to shine a focus on effective collaboration across Departments, we will discuss:
- How can HMG work more collaboratively across departments to achieve policy priorities
- What are the current blockers and opportunities for improved collaboration across government
- What has been the real world experience in going about cross-government working
To access this resource you must be a WIG member and logged in to our website.
You can register or log-in here.
Speakers at the Event
Sian joined the NAO in 2004, following a number of years leading large scale monitoring and evaluation projects in criminal justice environments. She started as a senior analyst, then was promoted to manager in 2008 and made director in 2017. During her time in the NAO she has worked across a range of clients and topics, including education, environment, farming and rural issues, science, and business, as well as with UN bodies including the refugee and drugs and crime agencies. She is currently responsible for the NAO’s value for money work at the centre of government, including Cabinet Office and HM Treasury. Sian is based in the north east and lives in the North Pennines
James Robertson has been a career civil servant for nearly 30 years, over half of that time in the senior civil service, working in the UK and overseas for a range of departments including HM Treasury, the FCO and the Canadian Ministry of Finance. Following a 3 year career break where he obtained a degree in psychology with a focus on child psychology and childhood studies, and served as a trustee of a children's charity, he joined DCMS in 2021 as Deputy Director for Youth. His team is responsible for delivering the Youth Investment Fund, the National Youth Guarantee and sponsorship of the National Citizen Service, as well as wider youth policy.
Since joining UK Government Investments (UKGI) in 2015, Stuart has worked on a variety of corporate finance and asset sale projects and corporate governance shareholder teams.
Stuart currently works within UKGI’s joint unit with the Ministry of Defence, where he built and leads the Defence Corporate Finance team, which provides financial and strategic analysis and advice to MOD to help ensure effective relationships with, and improved performance from, defence suppliers. Stuart also leads UKGI’s shareholder team for National Highways which, as part of a joint team with the Department for Transport, oversees Government’s shareholding. Stuart’s previous shareholder roles include Porton Biopharma, UK Green Infrastructure Platform and Working Links.
In addition to his role at UKGI, Stuart spent 6 years with the charity, Tramshed Arts, initially as a member of the capital development board and then as board member and trustee, and ultimately also as treasurer.
Prior to joining UKGI, Stuart spent 15 years in investment banking at JPMorgan, Bear Stearns and Piper Jaffray, advising companies across Europe on M&A and capital raising, latterly focusing on the healthcare sector. He then worked as an intelligence officer at the National Crime Agency.