British Council Tailored Review 2019 - February 2019

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British Council Tailored Review 2019 - February 2019
British Council
Tailored Review
2019

February 2019   British Council Tailored Review 2019  1
Cover photo © Mat Wright/British Council
Contents

Overview.............................................................................................................. 5
Full list of recommendations................................................................................. 7
Introduction—aims and approach......................................................................... 9
Section 1—Purpose............................................................................................ 11
    Chapter 1: Overview of the British Council...................................................... 11
    Chapter 2: Objectives..................................................................................... 12
Section 2—Delivery............................................................................................. 20
    Chapter 3: Effectiveness................................................................................. 20
        PART I: British Council framework............................................................... 20
        PART II: UK Government Framework.......................................................... 25
    Chapter 4: Working with UK Government and the devolved administrations... 34
    Chapter 5: Structure & Controls...................................................................... 40
Section 3—People and process........................................................................... 45
    Chapter 6: Status and Sustainability................................................................ 45
    Chapter 7: Operating model........................................................................... 52
    Chapter 8: Efficiency...................................................................................... 56
    Chapter 9: People........................................................................................... 62
Annexes.............................................................................................................. 68
        A: 2014 Triennial Review Recommendations: summary of implementation.68
        B: Challenge Panel and Review Team......................................................... 73
        C: Heads of Mission survey results.............................................................. 74
        D: External survey results............................................................................ 83
        E: Comparative Analysis of British Council in relation to other international
           cultural relations bodies......................................................................... 87
        F: British Council Principles of Corporate Governance Assessment.............. 88
4  British Council Tailored Review 2019
Overview
The British Council is the UK’s international           with identified benefits realisation. Many of the
organisation for cultural relations                     other changes are still in the process of bedding
and educational opportunities.                          down; the impact of others—for example,
                                                        commercial separation—is yet to be fully felt.
Established in 1934, the British Council
formed part of the UK Government’s                      The British Council is aware, however, that it needs
efforts to mitigate the impact of global                to do more to remain fit for purpose in a volatile
insecurity and to promote British culture.              and contested environment. It must continue to
                                                        ensure that it serves wider UK interests to best
The British Council continues this role today.
                                                        effect, and provides value for money. Although
It has operations both overseas and within the          the British Council has introduced a new and
UK. It provides a significant contribution to the       robust results and evidence framework, it remains
extension of our soft power. In the context of          challenging to assess its overall effectiveness.
the UK’s exit from the European Union, as the
                                                        This Tailored Review aims to provide further
UK charts a new course for itself in the world,
                                                        impetus to the British Council’s modernisation
this role retains its importance for the UK.
                                                        efforts. We do not believe that the British
Internationally, there is a greater recognition of      Council needs radical reform (with the risks
the value of organisations such as the British          that that would entail), nor that that would
Council. Cultural relations is an increasingly          best serve UK interests at the present time.
competitive and crowded space.
                                                        We have identified a number of areas where
In order to respond to these challenges, the            the British Council, and more broadly the UK
British Council needs to continue to evolve.            Government, can achieve greater impact. These
This Review has concluded that the British              recommendations are reflected throughout this
Council fulfils an important and unique role. It        report. We believe that implementing these
helps in creating knowledge and understanding           recommendations will reinforce the British
between the people of the UK and other                  Council’s position, and ensure that it remains fit
countries. It remains a world leader in its field.      for the future. The key recommendations are:

Many regard the British Council as an                   The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and
enduring and authentic partner, with a strong           British Council should agree an overarching strategic
brand. Its standing—strategically aligned               objective for the British Council (Recommendation
with but operationally independent from                 1). The British Council and FCO should also
Government—is widely seen as an asset.                  agree priority areas with named Senior Reporting
                                                        Officers (SROs) (Recommendations 3 and 4).
There is some good, though incomplete, evidence
of the British Council’s impact. Its operating model    Objectives should be coupled with detailed
is effective. The Review does not recommend             performance indicators that align with
any changes to its status at the present time.          the British Council’s results and evidence
                                                        framework (Recommendation 2).
The British Council is broadly on a solid foundation.
That is partly the result of the reforms introduced     The British Council’s activities should focus on its
following the 2014 Triennial Review of the              core strengths of promoting English language,
British Council. After some initial hesitation, the     education, and British culture. It should consider
British Council has embraced those reforms as           withdrawing from areas that are not clear or distinct
well as a broader modernisation programme.              strengths or do not support its core mandate, such
                                                        as governance and justice (Recommendation 10).
Since 2014, financial management in particular
has improved markedly. The British Council has          The British Council should significantly increase
introduced a significant change programme,              the level of the surplus it generates to fund

                                                                           British Council Tailored Review 2019  5
cultural relations activities, through growing
its commercial business and further increasing
its operational efficiency, whilst maintaining
operational reach (Recommendation 25).
The British Council should carry out a zero-
based review of its global estate, with a
view to co-locating with overseas posts
where possible (Recommendation 24).
The British Council should implement
vigorously its human resources change
programme (Recommendation 26).
The British Council and FCO should jointly
develop plans to respond to any significant
disruption, including as a result of EU Exit,
a change in government funding or a loss
of commercial revenue. The British Council
should consider a wide variety of options,
including selling parts of its commercial business
or other assets, improving efficiency, and
reducing investment (Recommendation 19).
The British Council and FCO should agree a formal
framework for regular senior level dialogue and
engagement (Recommendation 14). A reinforced
FCO sponsor team should support this, and
actively support cross-Government engagement
(Recommendation 12). A renegotiated FCO-
British Council Management Statement should
underpin this (Recommendation 13).
The British Council should work with the
Department for International Trade (DIT) to promote
more effectively commercial opportunities in
the education sector. The British Council should
consider transferring ownership of the portal used
to list opportunities to DIT (Recommendation 23).

6  British Council Tailored Review 2019
Full list of recommendations
Recommendation 1: The FCO’s single                      demonstrate quantifiably how the British Council
departmental plan should include a high                 is supporting the UK economy (page 34).
level British Council objective (page 14).              Recommendation 10: The British Council
Recommendation 2: The British Council and               should focus on its core objectives of promoting
FCO should agree, in line with the Management           the English language, education and British
Statement, more detailed strategic objectives           culture, and reconsider all its non-core work,
for the British Council that include indicators         in particular its justice and governance work.
and timelines for measurement. All British              Absent a strong rationale on the British
Council work (including monitoring and                  Council’s added value, it should consider
evaluation) should flow from this (page 15).            withdrawing from these areas (page 34).
Recommendation 3: The British Council                   Recommendation 11: The British Council
should simplify and streamline its strategic            and FCO should agree a procedure or
framework and business planning, making clear           escalation mechanism for identifying activities
at all stages the links between activities, outputs     or announcements by the British Council that
and overall strategic objectives (page 15).             could appear inconsistent or conflict with UK
Recommendation 4: Senior reporting                      Government policy. To improve the FCO’s and
officers should be appointed for each                   the British Council’s mutual understanding of
strategic objective (page 15).                          risks, the British Council should regularly share
                                                        its top risk register with the FCO (page 36).
Recommendation 5: All FCO diplomatic posts
should incorporate relevant British Council             Recommendation 12: The FCO should
objectives in their annual integrated country           increase the resources it allocates to managing
business plans, and use them to drive alignment         the relationship with the British Council, whilst
and complementarity of work (page 16).                  ensuring the British Council operates with the
                                                        appropriate level of independence (page 36).
Recommendation 6: The British Council should
ensure its work is closely aligned with the UK          Recommendation 13: The British Council’s
Government’s priorities, and that the British Council   Management Statement should be renegotiated
engages with UK Government departments and              to reflect the recommendations in this report
the devolved administrations when agreeing its          and to ensure it reflects both the frequency and
priorities for 2019/20 so that stakeholders can         range of different areas and responsibilities for
contribute in a meaningful way (page 17).               FCO and British Council engagement, such as
                                                        long term strategic priorities, human resources,
Recommendation 7: The British Council should            finance and estates issues (page 36).
strengthen its monitoring and evaluation through
more robust and longer term impact reporting and a      Recommendation 14: The British Council and
more rigorous approach to sharing evaluations and       the FCO should agree a formal framework for
lessons learned internally and externally (page 25).    regular senior level dialogue and engagement.
                                                        This framework should be set out in the
Recommendation 8: The British Council should            renegotiated Management Statement (page 36).
compile quarterly examples of impact and review
key performance indicators for impact annually. This    Recommendation 15: The British Council and
reporting should be shared with the British Council     FCO should develop a clear set of expectations
Board, the FCO sponsor department and other             and standard operating procedures, to be applied
relevant UK Government departments (page 25).           in a consistent way across their networks, on how
                                                        British Council country offices and UK diplomatic
Recommendation 9: The British Council                   posts should work together (page 37).
should strengthen its impact evidence base
through tracking and deepening key influential          Recommendation 16: The British Council should
relationships, including a more structured approach     keep the FCO informed of its engagement with
to alumni; and designing more robust metrics to         other government departments and the devolved
                                                        administrations, so that the FCO can support the

                                                                           British Council Tailored Review 2019  7
British Council and identify cross government           Recommendation 23: The British Council
synergies. The nature of the role should be clarified   should work with DIT to promote more
in a new Management Statement (page 38).                effectively commercial opportunities in the
Recommendation 17: The British Council                  education sector. They should consider
and the FCO should review and monitor the               transferring ownership of the portal currently
impact of the dual role guidance within 6-8             used to list opportunities to DIT (page 56).
months, and assess whether further changes are          Recommendation 24: The British Council
needed. This guidance should be shared with             should undertake a zero-based review of its
all stakeholders with whom the British Council          estate in the next financial year, considering
currently bids/receives funding from and regular        whether its premises are optimal for undertaking
training on this guidance provided to both              cultural and commercial activities and whether
internal and external stakeholders (page 40).           efficiencies can be found through co-location
Recommendation 18: The British Council                  with UK diplomatic premises overseas in line
should ensure its Trustees understand fully the UK      with the One HMG agenda (page 59).
Government’s guidance on governance systems             Recommendation 25: The British Council
and board responsibilities. Cabinet Office guidance     should continue its current model of growing its
on corporate governance in central government           commercial surplus to support cultural relations
departments and HM Treasury guidance on                 activities. It should look to increase significantly the
managing public money should be included in             level of surplus generated to fund cultural relations
the standard induction documents (page 44).             activities through a combination of increasing
Recommendation 19: The British Council should           revenue and increasing its operational efficiency.
develop clear contingency plans to respond to a         Clear targets should be developed for surplus
potential significant reduction in any of its sources   generation and efficiency savings (page 62).
of income. This should be discussed with the            Recommendation 26: The British Council
FCO at all stages and take into account wider UK        should ensure sustainable funding for the human
Government priorities. The British Council should       resource transformation programme, including
consider all possible options, including selling        shared services in Noida, as well as establishing
parts of its commercial business or other assets,       regional centres of excellence (page 63).
reducing investment and services, and using             Recommendation 27: The British Council
reserves to implement efficiency gains (page 51).       should, as a matter of urgency, support
Recommendation 20: The British Council                  ongoing work to draw up a strategic workforce
should continue to pilot franchising of its             plan, as well as efforts to develop leadership
commercial activities in mature markets,                capability (including talent management)
to assess whether both quality and the                  across the organisation (page 63).
current benefits from directly managing such            Recommendation 28: The FCO and British Council
operations can be maintained (page 55).                 should renegotiate the Management Statement,
Recommendation 21: The British Council                  agreeing a specific procedure for considering
should have clear criteria for deciding when            exceptional pay requests, ensuring that official UK
it will develop its own products, and publicise         Government procedure is included (page 63).
this to the English language and education              Recommendation 29: the FCO and British
sectors. Where it looks to develop new products         Council should update the Management
this should be done in partnership with UK              Statement to ensure it accurately reflects the
organisations wherever possible (page 55).              agreed appointment process for the Chair and
Recommendation 22: The British Council should           Deputy Chair of the Board of Trustees. This
ensure that its grant-in-aid funded operations do       should state where the process follows the
not inadvertently promote International English         principles of the office for the Commissioner for
Language Testing System (IELTS) above other English     Public Appointments (OCPA) governance code
language assessment. When renegotiating the             and highlight where there are differences or
IELTS consortium joint venture, the British Council     exemptions. The process should be set out in an
should explore the scope to provide further support     annex to the Management Statement (page 65).
to non-IELTS English language tests (page 55).

8  British Council Tailored Review 2019
Introduction—aims and approach
1.   This tailored review has looked both at the                 Aims of the 2019 tailored review
      performance of the British Council, and at how
                                                                 7.    The UK Government’s approach to public
      it is able to respond and adapt to those factors
                                                                        bodies’ reform for 2015 to 2020 is based
      which are most likely to affect demand for
                                                                        on a two-tier approach to transformation.
      its services over the short-to-medium term.
                                                                        The first element consists of a programme
2.   In doing so, the review has endeavoured                            of cross-departmental, functional reviews
      to take into account wider developments,                          coordinated by the Cabinet Office. This
      such as ‘Global Britain’ and the potential                        is complemented by ongoing, robust
      impact of exiting the European Union (EU)                         tailored reviews led by departments with
      on the UK’s international priorities.1                            Cabinet Office oversight and challenge.
3.   The review team did not undertake an audit of               8.    The aim of all such reviews is to provide
      British Council finances, nor detailed financial                  a robust challenge to, and assurance on,
      or economic modelling of future options.                          the continuing need for the organisation
                                                                        in question. If ministers subsequently
2014 Triennial Review                                                   decide that significant change of status
4.   A Triennial Review of the British Council                          or organisational structure is needed,
     was published in July 2014, under                                  separate work will be commissioned to
     the 2010-2015 public bodies reform                                 plan and implement that change.
     programme.2 It concluded with a list of 72                  9.    The 2019 tailored review of the British
     recommendations for the British Council.                           Council aims to assess in particular:
5.   The British Council provided three updates                        >> The British Council’s capacity for
      to the FCO on implementation of the 2014                            delivering more effectively and efficiently,
      Triennial Review. These were delivered                              including identifying the potential for
      alongside a report in December 2014                                 efficiency savings, and where appropriate,
      detailing progress in implementing the                              its ability to contribute to economic
      recommendations from the Triennial Review.                          growth. It includes an assessment of the
      Another report was produced in December                             performance of the organisation or—where
      2015, with a one page update in December                            appropriate—assurance that processes are
      2016. The December 2016 update stated                               in place for making such assessments;
      that all relevant recommendations had either
                                                                       >> The control and governance arrangements
      been implemented or were ongoing, for
                                                                          in place to ensure that the British Council
      example the separation of the British Council’s
                                                                          and the FCO are aligned with the Cabinet
      commercial and cultural relations activities.
                                                                          Office’s code of good practice on
6.   A summary of the implementation of the                               partnerships with arm’s length bodies.3
     recommendations is at annex A (page 68).                             It provides an assessment of whether
                                                                          these arrangements are optimal for
                                                                          the British Council’s effectiveness.

1 https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/global-britain-delivering-on-our-international-ambition
2 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/
  file/335494/140722_PDF_of_British_Council_Triennial_Review_with_Annexes_FINAL.pdf
3 Arm’s-length bodies is a commonly used term covering a wide range of public bodies, including non-ministerial
  departments, non-departmental public bodies, executive agencies and other bodies, such as public corporations.

                                                                                       British Council Tailored Review 2019  9
10. The full scope of the review is set out                            Tunisia, Brazil, and Zimbabwe. The team
     in the terms of reference published                               also looked at other countries’ cultural
     on the gov.uk website.4                                           relations organisations as appropriate; a short
                                                                       comparative analysis can be found in annex E.
Review approach
                                                                 16. The review team engaged with around 700
11. The review was carried out by a team                              individuals and organisations in the UK and
    of experienced Diplomatic Service                                 during country visits abroad, through structured
    officers, independent from the FCO team                           interviews, online surveys and working groups.
    responsible for working with the British
    Council. It was supported by expertise                       British Council response to the Review
    from across government, including
                                                                 17. The Review team is grateful to the British
    the overseas network, as well as from
                                                                      Council for its proactive engagement and
    academia and the private sector.
                                                                      support for the Review. It is to the British
12. The review was supported by a challenge                           Council’s credit that it has responded swiftly
     panel chaired by the FCO Non-Executive                           and helpfully to requests for information or
     Director, Miranda Curtis. The panel’s purpose                    clarification. A significant amount of this
     was to test the assumptions and conclusions                      evidence has also been published on their open
     of the review, in line with Cabinet Office                       website https://tailored-review.britishcouncil.
     guidance. Further details of the panel                           org. When the British Council has not had
     and its composition are at annex B.                              the information readily available, it has either
                                                                      endeavoured to produce it or provided suitable
13. The review team considered written evidence
                                                                      alternatives. Where the Review team has
     submitted by the British Council itself, as
                                                                      identified potential issues, for example around
     well as from trade unions and the European
                                                                      robust theories of change, the British Council
     Works Council. It also engaged with a broad
                                                                      has responded by working to develop them.
     range of external stakeholders, including UK
                                                                      As a result, the Review has largely been a
     Government departments and the devolved
                                                                      collaborative process: this report is the result
     administrations, businesses and civil society.
                                                                      of that partnership and is stronger for it.
14. Stakeholder engagement took place from
                                                                 18. The Review team would like to thank
     September to November 2018. The Review
                                                                      in particular Christopher Wade and
     team carried out a number of interviews and
                                                                      Eugenia Asare of the British Council for
     workshops, including with British Council and
                                                                      their continued help and support.
     FCO staff. The team took part in two British
     Council all-staff webinars. The Review team
     also ran two bespoke online surveys: one of
     Ambassadors and Heads of Missions in the
     FCO’s Global Network, and a wider survey
     of the British Council’s partners, customers
     and beneficiaries. The results of these surveys
     can be found in the annexes C and D.
15. The Review team carried out visits to British
     Council offices overseas to assess specific
     British Council programmes in context and
     their inter-relationship with other British
     Government activities. The British Council
     offices visited were China, India, Lebanon,
     Ukraine and Germany. In addition, the team
     looked in detail at British Council work in

4 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tailored-review-of-the-british-council-terms-
  of-reference/tailored-review-of-the-british-council-terms-of-reference

10  British Council Tailored Review 2019
Section 1—Purpose
Chapter 1: Overview of                                               Soft power
the British Council                                                  “We will further enhance our position as the world’s
19. The Foreign Office created the British                           leading soft power promoting our values and interests
     Committee for Relations with Other                              globally with our world-class Diplomatic Service,
     Countries in 1934. In 1936 it was                               commitment to overseas development, and institutions
                                                                     such as the BBC World Service and the British Council”—
     renamed the British Council.
                                                                     Strategic Defence and Security Review, 2015.
20. Its first overseas offices opened in 1938,
                                                                     “We will strengthen our overseas network so that we
     in Bucharest, Cairo, Lisbon and Warsaw.
                                                                     can reinvest in our relationships around the world… and
     It was the first organisation in the world                      use our soft power to project our values and advance UK
     dedicated to promoting cultural relations                       interests.”—National Security Capability Review, 2018.
     internationally. Since 1940 it has been
                                                                     There is no agreed definition of what constitutes soft
     operating under Royal Charter.
                                                                     power. However, it is generally interpreted as “the ability
21. The British Council was formed at a time of                      to get what you want through attraction rather than
     significant global instability. It was part of the              coercion or payments. It arises from the attractiveness of a
     UK Government’s efforts to mitigate the impact                  country’s culture, political ideals, and policies.”5
     of these threats and to promote British values.                 Soft power is intrinsically strategic: it is the fruit of long-
22. Today, the British Council continues to be the                   term investment and commitment. The British Academy’s
     UK’s international organisation for cultural                    report on soft power, The Art of Attraction (2013),
                                                                     recommended states should provide resources for the
     relations and educational opportunities. It
                                                                     development and maintenance of such long term assets,
     has operations both overseas and within
                                                                     but refrain from direct interference and keep soft power
     the UK. It contributes to the extension
                                                                     institutions at arm’s length.6
     of UK soft power (see box below).
                                                                     The UK is generally regarded as a leading soft power.
23. The British Council aims to create connections                   In 2018 the Portland Soft Power 30 Index placed the
     and build trust between the people of the                       UK in the top spot, noting its wide range of soft power
     UK and other countries, project British                         assets, including the contribution of the British Council.7
     values abroad, and contribute to UK security,                   For the past 6 years, London has been ranked highest in
     prosperity and influence objectives.                            the Global Power Cities Index.8 The market is, though,
                                                                     becoming increasingly competitive and crowded as other
24. The British Council is classified as a non-
                                                                     countries develop their own soft power tools, notably
     departmental public body and a public                           China and Russia (see annex E comparative analysis).
     corporation, with the FCO as its sponsor
     department. It is also a charity, under the                     These indices recognise the UK’s distinct soft power
                                                                     assets, but they do not assess how effectively they are
     Charities Act 2011, under Royal Charter. The
                                                                     used. Nor do they provide an assessment of the return on
     British Council status is examined in more
                                                                     investment. Studies commissioned by the British Council
     detail in Chapter 6, Status and Sustainability.
                                                                     have, however, reflected on the impact of soft power, for
                                                                     example through correlation to attracting international
                                                                     students, tourists and foreign direct investment, the
                                                                     role of soft power in contemporary diplomacy, and the
                                                                     contribution of arts.

5 Joseph Nye, Soft Power: The Means To Success In World Politics
6 British Academy, The Art of Attraction; Soft Power and the UK’s Role in the World
7 “The British Council in particular has been instrumental in spreading British influence and cultivating soft
  power, through cultural and educational engagement.”—Portland Soft Power 30 Index, 2018
8 http://mori-m-foundation.or.jp/english/ius2/gpci2/index.shtml

                                                                                           British Council Tailored Review 2019  11
The British Government is in the process of drawing up a                 75% of countries in these regions are also grouped into
soft power strategy, which will help set some of the British             smaller clusters, to enable localised sharing of expertise
Council’s work into that wider context.                                  and skills and to maximise efficiencies through shared
                                                                         offices and services. This clustering also incorporates
                                                                         countries where the British Council does not have
UK network                                                               permanent offices, and so allows for impact to be felt in
25. In the UK, the British Council employs                               countries where the British Council does not maintain a
                                                                         presence. There are over 20 countries where the British
     around 1,150 permanent staff at its
                                                                         Council is active but does not have an office.
     headquarters in London and offices in
     Manchester, Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh.                         An example of effective working within a cluster is the
                                                                         Teaching Centre Network, which encompasses around
26. The UK network includes Strategic Business                           50 countries. Through this network the British Council
     Units covering Arts, Education & Society,                           seeks to share skills and knowledge between the clusters.
     and English & Exams. Corporate functions                            Teaching Centres are accredited on a variety of criteria,
     include finance and corporate services,                             and cluster work enables a consistent approach to
     human resources, strategy and performance,                          accrediting. Knowledge sharing amongst the network is
     internal audit, digital, and marketing and                          also encouraged so that best practise can be shared and
     communications. These are all global functions.                     improved amongst the cluster members.
                                                                         Further details of its network can be found in the British
Overseas network                                                         Council’s annual report and accounts9, as well as its
27. The British Council operates in 116                                  corporate plan for 2018-202010.
     countries. It employs more than 12,000
     staff. Its stated annual turnover in 2017/18
     was £1,169 million. The largest share                               Chapter 2: Objectives
     of this came from its exams business,
     followed by contract management and                                 Strategic objectives
     then English language teaching.                                     30. The British Council’s broad goals and
28. In 2017/18, the British Council claims to have                            objectives are set out in its Royal Charter.11
     reached over 758 million people in over 116                              Originally granted in September 1940, the
     countries. This included 14 million face-to-face                         Royal Charter was most recently amended
     participants in British Council programmes, 42                           in 2011. Its stated objects are to:
     million users of British Council digital social                          >> promote cultural relationships and the
     media and learning products, and 19 million                                 understanding of different cultures
     visitors to British Council-supported exhibitions.                          between people and peoples of the
29. Further detail can be found in                                               United Kingdom and other countries;
     Chapter 3, Effectiveness.                                                >> promote a wider knowledge
                                                                                 of the United Kingdom;
The British Council’s Global Network                                          >> develop a wider knowledge
The British Council’s global network is made up of offices                       of the English language;
in 116 countries, grouped into eight different regions.
                                                                              >> encourage cultural, scientific, technological
These regions are the Americas, Middle East and North
                                                                                 and other educational cooperation between
Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia, South Asia, Wider
Europe, EU Europe and the UK. Each overseas region also                          the United Kingdom and other countries; or
has a regional hub, which has responsibility for improving                    >> otherwise promote the
the efficiency of communication and the quality of                               advancement of education.
programmes amongst the overseas network.

9 https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/2017-18-annual-report.pdf
10 https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/2018-20-corporate-plan.pdf
11 https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/royalcharter.pdf

12  British Council Tailored Review 2019
31. The British Council prioritises within these broad                 above. Not all criteria within a national security
     areas, but does not devote equal weight to                        framework is applicable to British Council work.
     them all. For example, scientific cooperation
                                                                 37. On a practical level, these three objectives
     generally has a lower priority than cultural
                                                                     are presented as the framework through
     relationships. In prioritising its work, it is
                                                                     which all British Council work should
     guided “by the UK’s long term international
                                                                     be seen and how the British Council
     aims”, as stated in the FCO/British Council
                                                                     contributes to UK Government objectives.
     agreed Management Statement. The British
     Council aims to be strategically aligned with,              38. However, the British Council does not
     but operationally independent from, the FCO.                    set out detailed outcomes that it will
                                                                     deliver under its stated objectives on
32. There is no single UK Government document
                                                                     influence, prosperity, and security.
     setting out detailed objectives for nor
     expectations of the British Council. The                    Strategic framework
     FCO’s published single departmental plan
     does not include a specific objective for,                  39. Underneath the three strategic objectives,
     or reference to, the British Council.                           there are a series of supplementary
                                                                     objectives and groupings of the British
33. The British Council draws from UK                                Council’s work and priorities. These
     Government’s publicly available objectives                      are set out in Figure 1 (page 14).
     in its strategic planning. The British
     Council aligned its 2018-20 corporate plan                  40. It is not clear however, how these groups
     objectives with the 2015 National Security                       of priorities and thematic areas relate
     Strategy (NSS) objectives,12 which are:                          to one another or fit together.

     >> Protect our people                                       41. The British Council’s strategic and business
                                                                      planning process is complex. Strategic Business
     >> Project our global influence                                  Units compile strategies for each of the
     >> Promote our prosperity                                        results areas (such as arts or education). In
                                                                      addition, there are eight regional strategies
34. The FCO’s single departmental plan
                                                                      and annual regional plans (covering seven
     and priority outcomes are also
                                                                      international regions and the UK), as well as a
     structured around these objectives.
                                                                      country strategy and annual country plan for
35. The British Council’s corporate plan is agreed                    each country operation. There are additional
     with the FCO annually (see Chapter 4, Working                    strategies covering specific thematic areas,
     with UK Government and the devolved                              such as cities. The inter-relationship between
     administrations). It is a public document which                  these strategies and plans is not always clear.
     sets out in broad terms the British Council’s
                                                                 42. The British Council’s monitoring and evaluation
     objectives and how it will achieve them. The
                                                                      (M&E) framework only relates to two sets
     current corporate plan 2018-20 states that the
                                                                      of objectives—the results areas and the
     British Council’s strategic objectives are to:
                                                                      corporate outcomes. The British Council does
  >>Contribute to the UK’s international                              not set out the specific goals or targets that
      influence and attraction.                                       it aims to achieve in its strategic objectives
                                                                      or geographical priorities. Country plans also
  >>Contribute to UK and global prosperity,
                                                                      tend to focus more on results areas rather than
      growth and development.
                                                                      stated strategic or geographic priorities. The
  >>Make a lasting difference to the security                         British Council’s M&E framework is therefore
      of the UK and to stability worldwide.                           ineffective at assessing how outcomes at, for
36. These objectives are broadly consistent with,                     example, country-level contribute to higher
     though not identical to, the NSS objectives

12 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_
   data/file/478933/52309_Cm_9161_NSS_SD_Review_web_only.pdf

                                                                                     British Council Tailored Review 2019  13
Figure 1. British Council Strategic Framework

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
Contribute to the UK’s international           Contribute to the UK and global               Make a lasting difference to
influence and attraction.                      prosperity, growth and development.           the security of the UK and
                                                                                             to stability worldwide.

CORPORATE OUTCOMES
Create opportunities                           Build connections                             Engender trust
Lives are transformed through                  Stronger cultural relationships between       Increased trust and understanding
English, education, skills,                    the UK and countries worldwide.               between people in the UK
qualifications, arts and culture.                                                            and people worldwide.

GEOGRAPHIC PRIORITIES
Creating international opportunities and       Responding to the refugee crisis in           Supporting stability and security
connections for young people in the UK.        Syria, Iraq and neighbouring countries.       in priority countries in the Middle
                                                                                             East, Africa and South Asia.

Supporting the UK’s influence and              Building education and cultural               Strengthening long-term
prosperity in the world through                partnerships with countries                   connections and relationships
stronger relationships with India. China       of the European Union.                        with the next generation in Russia
and other high-growth developing                                                             and neighbouring countries.
and developed economies.

RESULTS AREAS
Young people                        Higher education                 Arts                               Civil society and justice
Young people have the skills,       and science                      People’s lives are enriched        Citizens interact with states
resilience and networks to          People in tertiary education     by arts and culture and            in ways which encourage
find pathways to better lives.      and research institutes          cultural heritage is valued.       collaboration and create
                                    get access, partnerships,                                           stable societies that work
                                    training and collaboration                                          better for people.
                                    which contribute to more
                                    prosperous, sustainable
                                    and equitable societies.

English                             Testing and assessment           Women and girls                    Skills and enterprise
Good English teaching helps         Students and professionals       Women and girls participate        People have the skills
people to study and work            get internationally recognised   in, and benefit from, decision     to be employable and
and to develop careers,             UK qualifications for            making and social change.          to build inclusive and
confidence and networks.            study, life and work.                                               creative economies
                                                                                                        which support stable and
                                                                                                        prosperous societies.

     or strategic-level impact. These issues are                           twenty pages long, making it difficult to
     addressed further in Chapter 3, Effectiveness.                        identify priorities. In some cases, objectives
                                                                           were also listed without reference to specific
Business planning                                                          targets or baselines from previous years.
43. The Review looked at a range of country                          44. Country plans would benefit from
     strategies and plans. They were found to be                         simplification, including a one-page summary
     of varying quality. Inclusion of background                         dashboard showing progress towards
     data and analysis of the country context                            key targets, deadlines and risk ratings.
     meant that these were often more than

14  British Council Tailored Review 2019
45. A newly introduced requirement for country          Statement, more detailed strategic objectives
    plans to summarise explicitly the benefits          for the British Council that include indicators
    for the UK of programme or thematic                 and timelines for measurement. All British
    activity is a positive step. However, the           Council work (including monitoring and
    quality of this evidence is variable, with          evaluation) should flow from this.
    benefits to the host country often better
    defined than the benefit to the UK.                 50. Once agreed, there should be a requirement
                                                            to link all British Council business planning,
46. There is a lack of clarity around who is
                                                            activity and monitoring and evaluation to
     accountable at a strategic level for each
                                                            this new single set of objectives. This would
     set of priorities or objectives. This lack
                                                            provide greater clarity on the British Council’s
     of ownership means there is no critical
                                                            strategic direction, and ensure relevance and
     analysis of the positive and negative results
                                                            consistency of all staff and programme activity.
     that come from pursuing objectives.
                                                            Senior ownership of each objective would also
47. The lack of accountability also risks a                 help drive delivery and boost accountability.
     fractured approach to objective setting.
     This means programmes become a                     Recommendation 3: The British Council
     series of disparate activities, rather than        should simplify and streamline its strategic
     a coherent project to achieve a specific           framework and business planning, making
     desired outcome. Senior accountability and         clear at all stages the links between activities,
     oversight would better support delivery            outputs and overall strategic objectives.
     of outcomes and mitigation of risks.
48. The review found that both the FCO and the          Recommendation 4: Senior reporting officers
     British Council would benefit from closer          should be appointed for each strategic objective.
     alignment of objectives, and that this would
     be best achieved by incorporating a specific       FCO alignment
     objective relating to the British Council within
     the FCO’s published single departmental            51. Although the British Council’s work crosses
     plan. This new overarching objective should            several of the FCO’s priority outcomes,
     be drawn up in consultation with the British           the FCO itself has no single outcome
     Council. It should replace, or build on, the           clearly related to the British Council.
     current influence, prosperity and security         52. The British Council’s geographic objectives
     objectives (see Chapter 3, Effectiveness).              generally correlate with the FCO’s priority
                                                             areas, for example the deepening of bilateral
Recommendation 1: The FCO’s single                           links with other European countries, a focus
departmental plan should include a                           on key markets such as India and China, a
high level British Council objective.                        more resilient European neighbourhood, and
                                                             responding to the refugee crisis in Syria.
49. A set of detailed strategic objectives should
    be agreed in parallel with the FCO. These           53. The British Council has also sought to respond
    should have supplementary and measurable                 to newer FCO and cross-governmental
    key performance indicators (KPIs) and                    priorities, for example introducing a clearer
    timelines against which to measure progress              focus on women and girls and ensuring its
    and impact. The detail of this does not                  work contributed to the campaign for girls’
    necessarily need to sit in a public document.            education launched by a previous Foreign
    The British Council’s current geographical               Secretary. The British Council are part of
    objectives may provide a more appropriate                the cross-Whitehall steering groups on
    framework for revised strategic objectives.              women and girls, and girls’ education.
                                                        54. The British Council was also involved in recent
Recommendation 2: The British Council and                    plans to expand and deepen UK Government
FCO should agree, in line with the Management                engagement in Africa, as announced during

                                                                         British Council Tailored Review 2019  15
the Prime Minister’s trip to South Africa,                  59. Feedback from other stakeholders indicated that
      Nigeria and Kenya in August 2018. To help the                    in-country business planning was not aligned
      UK expand its influence beyond Anglophone                        with a central British Council strategy and
      Africa, the British Council is considering how                   therefore was inconsistent between countries.
      best to provide English language training                        Feedback also noted that there was little
      in francophone countries by running pilots                       opportunity for UK Government stakeholders
      in three West African countries. Given the                       to comment on British Council country plans.
      demand for English language, and wider UK
                                                                  60. Joined up strategic planning will have
      Government ambitions to work with African
                                                                       more prominence in the context of the
      countries to improve youth education, there
                                                                       Foreign Secretary’s ambitions to leverage
      is a clear role here for the British Council.
                                                                       the UK’s unique combination of soft
55. There are inevitably some gaps in relation                         power institutions.14 Recommendation
     to stated FCO priorities. The British Council                     13 (Chapter 4) suggest ways to
     does not, for example, have a specific focus                      improve collaboration in country.
     on building links with the Commonwealth.
     From 2000 to 2010 the British Council                        Recommendation 5: All FCO diplomatic
     priorities included a focus on addressing                    posts should incorporate relevant British
     climate change, but this ended, in part                      Council objectives in their annual integrated
     because it was not aligned closely enough                    country business plans, and use them to drive
     with the organisation’s charitable objectives.               alignment and complementarity of work.
56. At a country level, a majority of Heads of
    Mission felt they generally understood                        Wider UK Government alignment
    the British Council’s global priorities,                      61. The British Council’s 2018-20 corporate plan
    as well as the British Council’s plans in                          states that it was developed in consultation
    their country (Figure 2) (page 17).                                with UK Government departments and
57. Country case studies suggested a good level                        devolved administrations, as well as UK sector
    of alignment between overseas missions                             partners and with stakeholders overseas.
    and British Council country office priorities.                62. In practice the British Council discusses its
    In Germany, for example, the British Council                       plan and objectives in a series of bilateral
    is assessed as being well aligned with the                         conversations with UK Government
    FCO’s priority outcome to bolster bilateral                        departments and devolved administrations,
    relationships and peer to peer links with                          rather than as a consolidated group.
    partners across Europe. In India, China                            At best, this risks missing synergies or
    and Ukraine, the British Council’s priorities                      opportunities. At worst, it creates a risk
    in promoting UK influence and attraction                           of duplication and wasted effort.
    are well aligned with those of the FCO.
                                                                  63. To demonstrate alignment the British
58. However, despite a recommendation in the                           Council produces, as an annex to its
    2014 Triennial Review, 21% of Heads of                             corporate plan, a summary showing how
    Mission stated that British Council objectives                     it believes its work contributes to relevant
    were still not included in their ‘One HMG’                         departmental and devolved administrations’
    country business plans.13 12% of Heads of                          objectives. This is not, however,
    Mission said they had never been consulted                         formally agreed across government.
    on British Council country office planning.
                                                                  64. Representatives from government
                                                                      departments confirmed that the British

13 The One HMG Overseas agenda aims to remove barriers to joint working, so that
all staff working for the UK Government overseas can deliver the UK’s objectives more
effectively and efficiently.
14 https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/an-invisible-chain-speech-by-the-foreign-secretary

16  British Council Tailored Review 2019
Council’s framework generally aligns well           66. However, DfE saw scope for closer alignment
     with their international objectives:                    between the British Council’s work and UK
                                                             international education priorities and domestic
     >> The Department for International
                                                             education policies. On occasion the policy
        Development (DFID) stated that the
                                                             advice offered by the British Council was not
        British Council’s work on education
                                                             fully aligned with the latest UK Government
        and with young people can make a
                                                             thinking and approaches. There was no
        strong contribution to DFID’s efforts
                                                             substantive mechanism through which DfE
        to tackle extreme poverty and to
                                                             could set out their priorities when it came to
        promote global prosperity.
                                                             international education. The British Council
     >> The Department for Culture, Media and                had tended to consult with them late in the
        Sport (DCMS) was positive about the British          process of setting their priorities each year.
        Council’s contribution to cultural relations.
        Years of Culture and Cultural Protection         Recommendation 6: The British Council
        Fund programmes were highlighted as              should ensure its work is closely aligned with
        areas where the British Council made             the UK Government’s priorities, and that the
        significant contribution to DCMS priorities.     British Council engages with UK Government
     >> The Department for Education (DfE) was           departments and the devolved administrations
        clear that the British Council was a key         when agreeing its priorities for 2019/20 so that
        actor for delivering the UK’s international      stakeholders can contribute in a meaningful way.
        education objectives, and in a sense acted
        as the eyes and ears for DfE internationally.    Alignment with the devolved administrations
        DfE praised the relationships that the British
                                                         67. Representatives from the devolved
        Council had built with foreign Ministries of
                                                             administrations praised the British Council’s
        Education which had underpinned many
                                                             specific focus on “representing and serving
        agreements that the UK had signed.
                                                             all parts of the UK as well as the particular
     >> DIT flagged the key role the British Council         interests of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland
        played promoting the UK education and                and Wales”, as per its UK strategy. While
        English language sectors internationally.            there are no formal or strategic agreements
65. DFID, DfE and DIT all supported the British              between the British Council and the devolved
    Council’s existing focus on facilitating                 administrations, the British Council’s offices
    partnerships between UK and international                in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales
    education institutions, promoting the UK’s               produce annual country plans, which seek
    education sectors, including as a study                  to reflect the international priorities of each
    destination, offering education advice to                Administration, especially in the context of the
    foreign governments and offering international           devolution of education and culture policies.
    experience to UK students and young people.              Alignment of activity is further supported by

Figure 2: Heads of Mission Survey

To what extent do you agree or disagree                    To what extent do you agree or disagree with
with the following statement: "I understand                the following statement: “I understand British
British Council strategic priorities globally"             Council plans or priorities in my country”
                                         STRONGLY
Overall               AGREE                AGREE           Overall      AGREE             STRONGLY AGREE
                        60%                 13%                          42%                    30%

Where BC has presence                                      Where BC has presence
                      59%                   16%                          43%                       38%

                                                                          British Council Tailored Review 2019  17
each of the British Council’s Scotland, Wales            Independent external evaluation concluded that
     and Northern Ireland Advisory Committees.                Connecting Classrooms “delivered positive results across
                                                              the vast majority of logframe impact, outcome and
68. Examples of British Council activity that                 output indicators, meeting and in many cases exceeding
     complemented devolved administrations’                   milestone targets”. DFID awarded the programme “A+”
     objectives included in primary and                       and “A” ratings (‘exceeding/meeting expectations’).
     secondary education, where the Connecting
                                                              Participants were generally positive about the impact of
     Classrooms through Global Learning (see
                                                              the programme, contributing to efforts to internationalise
     text box below) and Erasmus+ programmes                  young people and create global citizens. It was also
     were strongly praised for increasing the                 regarded as an effective gateway for schools to make
     international outlook and skills development             international connections before involvement in other
     of teachers and young people.                            education programmes, such as Erasmus+.
                                                              Feedback from delivery partners and government
Creating international opportunities and                      stakeholders indicated that Connecting Classrooms
connections for young people in the UK                        increased the UK’s reputation and contribution to
Connecting Classrooms through Global Learning | UK            development education in the 40 participating countries
and 40 countries                                              and improved the consistency and reach of development
                                                              education in UK schools, including in less culturally diverse
Connecting Classrooms through Global Learning is a
                                                              regions.
global schools programme to help young people develop
the knowledge, skills and values to live and work in a
globalised 21st century economy. It does this by training     69. In Scotland, the British Council’s work on the
teachers and school leaders to use new interactive                 2018 Year of Young People in Scotland and
approaches and techniques in their teaching. The British           the 2018 Edinburgh International Culture
Council and DFID each contributed £17 million to the               Summit demonstrated a close alignment
2015-2018 programme. It is managed and delivered by                with the Scottish Government’s priorities
the British Council in the UK and over 40 other countries.         and demonstrated effectively the British
The 2018-21 Connecting Classrooms programme has been               Council’s complementary approach.
integrated into DFID’s Global Learning Programme.
                                                              70. In Northern Ireland, stakeholders from the
Connecting Classrooms covers four areas: dialogue
                                                                   Department for Economy (covering higher
with policymakers on education policy development;
                                                                   education) identified the British Council’s
professional development for teachers and school leaders;
enabling school partnerships; and an accreditation scheme          Study USA and The International Association
for schools (International School Award). It contributes to        for the Exchange of Students for Technical
the British Council’s priority area: ‘Young people have the        Experience, as successful programmes
skills, resilience and networks to find pathways to better         managed in Belfast that contributed to the
lives’.                                                            long-term prosperity of Northern Ireland.
From 2015-18 Connecting Classrooms worked with 1,100          71. The Global Wales programme was highlighted
policy makers, trained over 22,000 school leaders and              as an example of where the British Council’s
56,000 teachers, and over 10 million young people learned          partnership with the Welsh Government
new knowledge, skills and values in classrooms. In the UK,         helped to successfully promote Wales’
1,630 schools took part; 3,500 teachers completed skills           higher education sector internationally.
training and 135 school leaders were trained.
Connecting Classrooms contributed to DFID and                 Views from non-government actors
DfE priorities. It is closely aligned with Devolved           72. A wide range of stakeholders that had
Administrations’ objectives around internationalising young
                                                                  close interaction with the British Council
people and global citizenship, in particular in the context
                                                                  were interviewed and surveyed.
of the UK’s exit from the EU.
                                                              73. Evidence suggests that the British Council’s
                                                                   UK stakeholders generally had a good
                                                                   understanding of its broad purpose and
                                                                   sectoral activities. Interviews with key
                                                                   stakeholders in the arts, education, exams

18  British Council Tailored Review 2019
External Stakeholders Survey - To what extent do you agree or disagree with the
 following statement: “I understand British Council priorities in my sector”

 Arts            AGREE         STRONGLY AGREE           Young People              AGREE        STRONGLY AGREE
                  41%               48%                                            48%              42%

 English                                                Civil Society & Justice
                 39%               45%                                            41%              48%

 Higher Education & Science                             Testing & Assessment
                       51%               44%                                      47%               40%

 Skills & Enterprise                                    Women & Girls
                       56%                44%                                     44%              44%

        and society programme areas demonstrated a
        widespread understanding of what the British
        Council’s purpose was. Across all stakeholder
        groups, a significant majority of those who
        responded to the external stakeholders’
        survey (annex D) said they understood
        British Council priorities in their sector.
74. A number of UK stakeholders, however,
    indicated that clarifying and simplifying the
    British Council’s strategic framework would
    be welcome. This feedback was strongest
    amongst stakeholders in the arts sector.

                                                                        British Council Tailored Review 2019  19
Section 2—Delivery
Chapter 3: Effectiveness                                       shared performance reports compiled for the
                                                               Board of Trustees and a 2018/19 strategic
Review approach                                                targets summary. These covered some of
75. The British Council’s M&E framework aims                   the REF but did not set out a comprehensive
     to record reach, engagement, opportunities                set of British Council key performance
     and impact against the eight thematic results             indicators’ (KPIs) related to effectiveness.
     areas, as well as organisational performance         81. The British Council has plans to develop
     (see Figure 4 (page 22)). There is no explicit            M&E capacity across the organisation.
     M&E link to, or separate reporting on, the                New regional and thematic M&E advisors
     British Council’s impact against the three                should help professionalise and embed the
     strategic objectives (influence, prosperity,              British Council’s approach, for example
     security), or the six geographic objectives,              by tailoring approaches to programmes
     agreed with UK Government in the corporate                and investing in external evaluation.
     plan (see “Chapter 2: Objectives”). This
                                                          82. The British Council’s investment in
     made an evaluation of the British Council’s
                                                               strengthening its M&E capacity and
     effectiveness and contribution to UK
                                                               expertise through the REF is a positive
     Government priorities challenging.
                                                               development. It reflects an aspiration to
76. The Review adopted a twin track approach                   meet, or exceed, current best practice.
     of looking both at the British Council’s own              The British Council should review two key
     evidence, processes and metrics for assessing             weaknesses in the REF’s methodology.
     its impact (Part I); as well as gathering separate
                                                          83. As noted above, the REF does not link back
     evidence of the British Council’s contribution
                                                              to either set of the British Council’s strategic
     to the three strategic objectives (Part II).
                                                              objectives (influence, prosperity, security, or
                                                              the six geographical priorities). The British
PART I: British Council framework                             Council has shared additional detail with
                                                              the Review on how the impact statements
The British Council’s Monitoring
                                                              map out against influence, prosperity,
and Evaluation Policy
                                                              security objectives (see Part II). Preparing
77. In response to feedback, the British Council              this alignment retroactively limits its value.
     introduced an ambitious global monitoring                The REF should be aligned with the British
     and evaluation policy and a new results                  Council’s reinforced strategic priorities
     and evidence framework (REF). This is                    (Recommendation 2) as a matter of priority.
     based on a model used by DFID.
                                                          84. Additionally, as recognised in a recent British
78. Introduced in 2017, the REF seeks to                      Council stocktake, there are gaps in the
     demonstrate the impact of the British Council’s          governance of the REF and a lack of senior
     cultural relations work by defining categories           leadership and ownership. While there appear
     for the collection and presentation of evidence.         to be leads for each of the results areas, senior
     It is structured around four ‘levels’ of evidence,       leaders such as thematic or regional directors
     each with thematic sub-categories (the eight             are not named as being responsible for
     results areas in the case of REF Levels 2 and            delivery against relevant objectives. Providing
     3) and agreed indicators (a sample of which              senior reporting officers (Recommendation
     are reproduced in Figure 4 (page 22)).                   4) with relevant REF data would strengthen
79. Organisational performance indicators are                 oversight and accountability for specific
    covered in “Chapter 2: Objectives”.                       outcomes and ultimately improve delivery.

80. The Review has not seen a complete REF                85. Some external stakeholders who worked
     dashboard. Instead, the British Council                   more closely with the British Council had a

20  British Council Tailored Review 2019
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