06 March 2009
The government does not learn from experience as much as it should, according to a National Audit Office report published on February 27. The main barriers to learning within departments are ineffective tools to capture and share experiences; keeping insights and information within the team rather than sharing them across the organisation; high turnover in the workforce leading to a loss of knowledge; and a lack of time given to learning from experience, the report said. Auditor general Tim Burr said: ‘We know from our audit work that projects and programmes are more likely to succeed and keep to time and budget where lessons have been learned and experience shared. Departments need to take learning more seriously. Getting better at learning from the past will help government secure better value for money in the future.’
PFmar2009
