A ‘live conversation’ at the top of Government about how to improve the focus areas seeks to renew confidence after the freebie scandal
The Government is planning to revamp its flagship “five missions for national renewal” as it tries to correct course after a torrid first 100 days.
There is a “live conversation” at the top of Government about how to make the mission boards more effective, the Telegraph understands.
The renewed focus on the five missions comes as the Government attempts to reset after its first 100 days was marred by the freebies scandal and the downfall of Sue Gray, the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff.
Sir Keir Starmer first announced the five missions in 2023 when he was leader of the opposition. They are: boosting economic growth, making Britain a green energy superpower, cutting crime, fixing the NHS and spreading opportunity.
A new poll has revealed the Conservatives are ahead of Labour for the first time in terms of family finances since Boris Johnson was in power, it emerged on Saturday.
It comes as Labour are looking to put £40 billion of tax hikes as part of its Budget, according to the Mail on Sunday.
Five months ago Sir Keir had been ahead of the Tories by 15 per cent on the issue but the Opinium findings showed that the Tories are now ahead of Labour by 23 per cent to 21 per cent on being asked which party was likely to improve their financial situation.
But Government insiders admit that since the election, mission-related work has largely involved appointing staff to the mission boards, which are similar to cross-departmental Cabinet committees, and other “behind the scenes” work.
Now new plans still under consideration include using data dashboards with quantifiable indicators for each of the different mission areas, by which success will be measured.
The mission boards are also expected to seek expertise from around the country on how to achieve their goals.
Hospital executives with good outcomes will be cherry-picked and brought in to help with the mission of “fixing the NHS”.
Similarly, local crime prevention projects that are deemed to have successfully made streets safer will be drafted by the “cutting crime” mission board, under the plans.
“It will be a clear and realistic plan of what we are going to be doing,” said a Government figure. “There’s a feeling that if you try to do everything, you end up doing nothing,” they said.
The “spreading opportunity” board has been cited as an example of a mission whose outcomes are currently difficult to measure, when compared with clear outcomes demanded by the energy board which is tasked with delivering Net Zero by 2030.
The Prime Minister will oversee the mission boards with regular separate “stock takes” on each of the five areas.
“The PM has started doing stock takes on individual missions. He’ll go in and have a deep dive on one of the mission areas and see how that’s going,” said the source.
The first such “stock take” happened last week when the Prime Minister met members of the “Clean Energy Superpower” mission board, which is chaired by Ed Miliband, the energy secretary.
While the missions are pegged to the Prime Minister’s goal of a “decade of national renewal”, there is a desire for appreciable results before the next general election.
