Evolving our own capability and capacity

• all key deliverables in the quarter successfully completed
• Phase 1 of the Governance review completed
• overprogramming has naturally fallen out reducing the need for reprioritisation of our corporate priorities during quarter 1.

Key successes in the quarter

• key deliverables in the quarter have been successfully completed
• phase 1 of our internal governance review has been completed, subject to review.  This review considered the internal executive-level governance for decision-making within the FSA
• reprioritising corporate priorities due to financial pressures was not required during quarter 1 as over-programming is reducing
• received recommendations from external consultants for how to set up regulated products as an exemplar service, including ‘service templates’
• we put advice to our Executive Management Team on a portfolio approach to managing our internal and external change work, which was accepted.

Concerns/risks

• additional work has emerged for the FSA during quarter 1, including the Civil Service 2025 headcount commission, the Precision Breeding Bill and the need to work with government partners on a target operating model for import controls in the Autumn which may require reprioritisation in subsequent quarters.  An incoming Prime Minister may also have new priorities which impact on the FSA’s workplan
• the Headcount Commission has caused delays to the launch of the ‘People Plan’, which is now expected in quarter 4, and the activity to establish long-term embedding of the strategy and developing further proposals for FSA work on ‘Healthier and more Sustainable’ food.  This should be rectified as part of the multi year corporate plan being developed

Next steps

• further work required to define the scope and successful delivery of our this corporate priority, particular due to prioritisation exercise.