This report by the Strategic Policy Making Team of the British Cabinet Office examines what professional ‘modernised’ policy making should look like. It also suggests possible levers for change to help bring about the ‘modernised vision’ for policy making. The project team tackled these aims by developing a descriptive model of ‘modernised’ policy making with the help of policy makers from a number of departments. They then using it to carry out an ‘audit’ of good practice, which involved testing a range of cases identified by departments.
The research makes it clear that some elements of ‘modernised’ policy making are already present. In particular, the importance of joining up effectively is now well understood by policy makers. The need to involve and communicate with those affected by policies as well as those who deliver them on the ground is also well understood. Finally, policy makers are drawing increasingly on the experience of other countries in developing their own thinking. However, there remain obstacles both to the development of more forward-looking and long-term policies, and to greater innovation and creativity in policy making.
The report suggests that both policy process and organisational culture have to be changed to make policy making more effective. It indicates that the skills for policy makers to acquire should include:
- Being able to understand the context – organisational, political and wider – in which they are working.
- Having the ability to manage complex relationships with a range of key players.
- Well developed presentational skills, including the ability to work with others to gain ownership of their ideas by different groups.
- A grounding in economics, statistics, information technology and other relevant scientific disciplines.
- Familiarity with using project management disciplines.
- A willingness to experiment and to acquire new knowledge through a career in policy making and elsewhere.
Policy pointers to ensure the development of ‘modernised’ policy making include the need for:
- The centre to use peer review as a structured mechanism for bringing about cultural changes, as well as enabling good practice experience to be shared more widely.
- To develop a range of joint training events for Ministers and policy makers to encourage better mutual understanding of what is and is not possible.
- To develop a policy ‘knowledge pool’ – covering relevant information concerning policy conducted.
- To develop a model of policy making to allow departments to use it to benchmark their current policy making against the standard.
- For departments to apply project management discipline to the policy process and create a ‘policy researcher’ role to develop an expertise in gathering and assessing relevant evidence.
