If you’re pursuing institutional memory, then you should have a Department of Yelling at People to Use the Forums.
I’m curious — since you mentioned to me elsewhere that this took some inspiration from my ministries and offices idea — why the departments are placed within ministries. As I wrote back then,
The solution isn’t to just draw a line around the bureaucracy in red marker and pat ourselves on the back for differentiating them. The bureaucracy is unnecessary if you identify the components that actually warrant a civil service. (For instance: I have no problem wants to have someone else be the line of communication with ‘Senior Roleplayers,’ whatever that means, but to make it a requirement seems like a stretch. I am sure our ministers are capable enough to, like, talk to people.)
And even for a civil service, this degree of insulation from the rest of the executive doesn’t seem like it actually promotes institutional memory. To the contrary, it exacerbates the issue where we have small numbers of people with specialized knowledge that doesn’t get passed down. Why would it? They’re not going anywhere. Certainly not if they’re a Permanent Secretary. As long as they know what they’re doing, things will be fine… right?
The issue is that executive control and executive memory are closely related. If someone’s just off doing their own thing — and they have some specialty that feels unapproachable to outsiders — then at best others feel walled off and at worst others are walled off. A department doesn’t actually encourage people to document their knowledge, share it with others, or be open to contributions. In fact, I fear this proposal makes them so insulated, despite nominally being contained within a ministry, that it leaves elected and Assembly-approved officials in charge of departments they can’t really control.