12.7 Some similar considerations have informed our analysis of the corporate services model. There is scope for a more streamlined and professionalised delivery model than the current one, under which delivery responsibilities for corporate services such as finance, military and civilian personnel management and security vetting are divided between a number of stand-alone delivery organisations providing common services across the Department, and the TLBs themselves. In addition, we agreed with the view that the senior corporate owners of these functions and processes did not have sufficient authority in order genuinely to be able to drive improvements in efficiency and effectiveness across the Department in their enabling areas, for which they could then be held to account.
12.8 The Defence Secretary announced the conclusions of the work on corporate services on 22 March 2011. The new corporate services model, which we endorsed, will see the establishment of a single delivery organisation - Defence Business Services (DBS) - to deliver transactional and other services in the fields of civilian HR, finance, some elements of information and commercial services, and, at a later date in the transition, security vetting and military HR. The authority of the process owners will also be strengthened. They will be given the responsibility for tasking the DBS (having consulted the TLBs on their requirements) and, in addition, any non-DBS staff in the civilian HR and commercial functions (the latter now under the CDM) will report primarily to the process owner rather than their TLB management. We judge that these changes provide a sound basis for the more efficient delivery of corporate services in Defence (the Department expects these changes to enable reductions of some 2,000 posts by 2014) at the same time as ensuring they respond to TLB needs, as well as for: greater consistency in the implementation of corporate policies and standards across the Department; the potential to improve management information; and a further impetus towards the use of professional skills in the Department's corporate functions.
12.9 Our proposals in Part 8 to strengthen financial management throughout the Department, and in particular the recommendation that new TLB Directors of Resources should report jointly to the DG Finance and the TLB Holder, also have implications for the reporting arrangements of TLB finance staff below that level. The Department should consider precisely how their reporting arrangements may need to be adjusted in order to ensure that effective financial management is integral to the way TLBs work. In our view, and in line with the decisions on HR and commercial staff, we recommend the Department should enhance the authority of the DG Finance to direct standards, procedures and, through the Directors of Resources, staffing for the finance function across the Department. This would support the development of a single version of the financial truth and the effective, efficient, consistent and professional delivery of the finance function across the Department. The DG Finance may wish to bring together regularly the Directors of Resources and the senior finance officers within the Head Office to ensure a common understanding of, and approach to, the Department's financial position.