5. Invest in analytical capacity and capability

What:

Strong analytical skills are increasingly seen as a significant organisational asset, and analytical awareness is becoming essential for a range of roles. Analytical capability is increasingly essential for everyone, not just those in analytical roles. Investment in the skills and infrastructure (T) needed to build analytical capability and resilience is necessary to realise the benefits (V) of an evidence-driven culture.

Three important aspects to investing in analytical capacity and capability are to:

i. Upskill analytical capability for all

Maximising opportunities for cross-profession learning can help enhance the skillsets (T) of everyone in government. This ensures that government is suitably skilled and resourced to answer the most pressing questions of today, and those of tomorrow, and facilitates innovation (V) by drawing on the most up-to-date approaches and techniques.

Analysts should also have access to wider analytical networks so that they are supported in their current roles as well as their longer-term careers (T), regardless of whether they work in a large department or a smaller Arm’s Length Body (ALB).

Affiliation with professional networks is a critical mechanism that supports cross-government learning and access to development opportunities, such as those gained through job rotations, secondments, and swaps.

ii. Embrace new tools and skills to meet future evidence demand

Investing in new analytical systems and tools also helps to ensure that analytical conclusions on which decisions are based is sound (Q) and that analysts are enabled to respond to the key policy questions of the future (V).

It is key that analysts stay up to date with innovative technologies (V) and have the time to develop new skills (T). With growing recognition of the opportunities afforded by new methods, (Q) such as data science, data linkage and the use of artificial intelligence, more investment is needed to ensure government can reap the benefits and safeguard (T) against the risks. Senior leaders have an important role to play here, prioritising and championing (T) innovation and investment in new methods and tools.

iii. Pool resources to improve analytical capability

To answer a pressing analytical question (V), the necessary analytical resources and expertise need to be in the right place, at the right time. However, this is not always the case. Effective analytical leadership can therefore require sharing, pooling and redistribution of experience, skills, and resources (T) beyond established organisational silos to ensure that the required analytical evidence is timely, relevant, and robust (Q).

How:

Our work identified a range of case studies that help demonstrate how to invest in analytical capacity and capability. Some of the essential skills and behaviours illustrated through these examples, include:

Prioritising workforce development:

Deliver structured training and leadership programmes to build data literacy.

Securing senior sponsorship:

Engage leaders to champion and resource analytical capability.

Modernising analytical practices:

Make reproducibility and automation the default for efficiency and quality.

Investing in data and tools:

Use linked datasets and innovative technologies to enhance insight generation.

Sharing capability across boundaries:

Enable local decision-making and cross-organisation collaboration through resource and data sharing.