Desk research, interviewing and report-writing

Case study:

An independent assessment of the effectiveness of the Food Standards Agency.

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Background

In October 2004, the Board of the Food Standards Agency commissioned The Rt Hon Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde to carry out an independent review of the Agency’s performance since it was established in April 2000. Baroness Dean personally appointed Rachel as Executive Assistant to the review.

Key skills used

· Report-writing
· Interviewing high level executives and politicians
· Research
· Analysing and interpreting information to develop specific recommendations for action
· Preparing formal presentations

Details of the project

The project methodology was designed to complement, and provide an overarching framework for, a number of previous studies of the Agency’s operations which had focused mainly on technical data relating to pre-determined issues. The Dean Review took a much broader view of the Agency’s work and, by avoiding a rigid questionnaire-based approach, allowed the Agency’s stakeholders to set the tone and, in effect, to determine the key issues.

129 interviews were conducted with senior representatives

from consumer groups, public health groups, the food industry and the media; and with Government ministers from Westminster, Scotland, the Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland, involving travel throughout the UK. In addition, each member of the Board was interviewed, as were key executives within the Agency. Confidentiality was a crucial element of the review, with interviewees’ anonymity fiercely protected to ensure meaningful and independent results.

Research for the review also included attending various Food Standards Agency Committee and Board meetings, and studying vast amounts of information in the form of internal and external reports, surveys and other documentation.

Outcome

The review’s findings were presented to the Board and staff of the Food Standards Agency, helping to create support for the implementation of the report’s recommendations. A 60-page project report was delivered to the Food Standards Agency which was published for the public domain, and which provided a working document for the Agency to use in its business planning. The Board of the FSA welcomed the report unreservedly, accepting all 22 recommendations to help improve areas of weakness and build on areas of strength, enhancing the Agency’s ability to meet its objectives in the next five years.