Background
The environment in which government operates is more complex than ever. The landscape for global and national level risks is increasingly volatile. Government must carefully balance short-term demands with long-term preparedness, making tough choices and trade-offs with finite resources and capacity.
Our value for money and lessons learned reports routinely highlight challenges for government in managing complex and connected risks. Effective risk management can be difficult, but it is essential to achieve government’s ambitions and objectives, improve service delivery and secure long-term value for money.
Scope
We are producing a guide for senior leaders setting out the challenges to managing risks in government.
The guide will:
• define and set out a series of risk management challenges for government, drawing from our body of published work
• provide insights and examples of how government organisations can seek to manage these challenges – supported by interviews with risk leaders
• equip senior leaders with actions and questions to help improve risk management and risk maturity for their organisations
Our previous work in this area includes:
- The government’s preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons for government on risk management (Nov 2021)
- Managing risks in government (Jun 2011)
- Managing Risks to Improve Public Services (Oct 2004)
- Supporting Innovation: Managing Risk in Government Departments (Aug 2000)
NAO Team
Director: Mfon Akpan
Risk Manager: Russell Heppleston