Good practice
Aims
For more information about any aspect of our Good Practice work please contact us.
The aims of this workstream are to support horizon scanning and strategic futures analysis in Government departments and where necessary assist them to raise their capacity for this important activity which is a key element of the Chief Scientific Adviser's guidelines for departmental analytical work. One important aim is to help departments to increase cross government synergies in futures work. Horizon scanning can also help departments to counter balance the inevitable political focus on short-term issues by providing a longer-term perspective for departmental work.
What help is available now?
The Foresight Horizon Scanning Centre also carries out a programme of cross departmental Strategic Futures Coaching which may lead after further analytical work to Strategic Futures Labs to address issues identified by departments as deserving further attention. We believe we are able to provide a valuable resource to departmentsin facilitating horizon scanning capacity-building to inform priority setting. There are opportunities for departments to second people to the HSC to contribute to our work and to gain relevant skills.
Longer term activities
There is potential for the HSC to establish larger joint projects with departments if they identify issues of general importance to Government or with implications for more than one department - we welcome suggestions of this kind and can bring both expertise and resources to the table as well as a "neutral" position within the Government framework. The HSC has mapped futures work in Government and outside and seeks to identify examples of good practice. It has also developed processes to improve the communication of often complex scanning work to non-specialists and to support decision-makers in prioritising issues and taking relevant ideas forward into strategy development - the process we call Scanning into Action. We are working with the National School of Government and others on the development of more structured training modules to strengthen skills development in departments both at analyst/practitioner and senior management level. This forms part of the Professional Skills for Government core syllabus.
Resources
