Watchdog brings in advisory firm to help implement methods intended to help organisations better understand and get the most out of the structures and process that comprise an entire system

The Information Commissioner’s Office has signed a potential £1m deal for a specialist consultancy to advise the regulator on how best to adopt  “a systems-thinking approach”.

On 3 December, the data watchdog entered into an engagement with London-based management consultant RedQuadrant lasting for an initial term of about 22 months, according to a newly published contract notice. This deal – which can be extended for a further term of two years, up to an end date of October 2029 – will be worth around £250,000 a year, with total potential spending of £1m.

For which price the ICO will receive guidance on how best to deploy the approach of ‘systems thinking’ – which government guidance describes as “a framework for seeing and understanding the relevant aspects of the whole system – the ‘structures’ that underlie complex situations”.

“The ICO requires to appoint a consultant partner to support ICO in applying a systems thinking approach to departments within the organisation,” the notice adds. “To support ICO in to make some fundamental changes to how we think about, design and action our work. ICO want to ensure effective delivery against our purpose, using the right information to take the right actions in the right way and to ensure this, the ICO wants to apply a systems thinking approach.”

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The Whitehall guidelines – which were created by the Government Office for Science and are intended to provide “an introductory toolkit for civil servants” – advises officials that “the challenges governments face are often complex and require breaking down an objective into smaller parts that are owned by different departments and teams.”

“But this necessary division can create more complexity with many different views, workstreams, and stakeholders to hold in our collective minds,” the guidance adds. “Using the right approach to tackle this complexity can lead to more efficient use of resource, more joined-up thinking and consistent government messaging. An approach to solving this problem is systems thinking.”

Operating as an independent public body under the sponsorship of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the ICO has more than 1,000 staff employed across locations in Wilmslow, Manchester and London.

With responsibility for serving as the UK’s regulator for data protection, information rights and privacy, in 2024 the watchdog processed more than 43,000 complaints regarding data protection and freedom of information. It issued 10 enforcement notices, a tactic which has become increasingly common in its work with the public sector.