Press Release - Modern Policy-Making: Ensuring Policies Deliver
Value for Money
1 November 2001
Departments should check whether their policy-making and
implementation processes are suitable and cost effective, and the
Cabinet Office can assist by accelerating the identification and
dissemination of good practice, Sir John Bourn, head of the
National Audit Office, today reported to Parliament.
Departments spend some £350 billion a year on a range of
services and activities intended to benefit citizens. If public
services are badly designed and implemented, they will not meet
users’ expectations and may have adverse unintended impacts.
Departments can enhance their ability to design and deliver
policies cost effectively by learning from the good practice
approaches adopted by others within the public sector and
beyond.
The report identifies good practice in policy design and
implementation by drawing on selected case studies and examples of
good practice from departments, local authorities, the private and
voluntary sectors. The report’s key findings include:
- Identifying the need for a policy requires
departments to have reliable and comprehensive information,
including research into citizens’ preferences, and to be robust
against foreseeable contingencies.
- Understanding the nature of the problem,
including having staff with the necessary research and analytical
skills, and exploiting web based technology to access a range of
information from across departments and from outside government.
Departments need to have in place well developed strategies to
determine their information requirements and to analyse the
components of an issue so that they can focus their policy
development effectively.
- Assessing how policies are likely to work in
practice is a crucial stage in policy design that should
identify the practical constraints which need to be overcome if
policies are to be successful. This includes estimating the likely
costs of polices, opportunities to shape policies so that certain
groups are not unintentionally excluded, and determine whether
policies are likely to represent value for money and deliver
sustainable benefits in the longer term.
- Identifying and assessing risks to performance and
delivery such as assessing the capability of those
required to implement policies, and assessing whether those
intended to benefit from a policy are likely to do so, by examining
accessibility and communicating the policy to those intended to
benefit (the Department of Health’s Meningitis C vaccination
programme provides a good example of this, examined in the
report).
The report also identifies good practice for Departments to
improve the way they implement,
maintain and evaluate their
policies. By following these, they can ensure that they are well
placed to manage risks to value for money and under-performance;
that policies remain relevant and cost effective and that they can
keep policies on track when something unexpected occurs.
The report suggests some key questions for departments to
consider to secure intended outcomes and to deliver value for money
in the policy process, including the interconnection of policies,
how the identification and management of risks are built into
policy design and implementation, and measuring, reviewing and
evaluating the effectiveness of policy activities and outcomes.
Sir John Bourn said today:
"This report aims to stimulate and encourage good practice
in the way that departments secure value for money in the design,
implementation and longer term maintenance of policies. High
quality public services depend on departments designing and
implementing policies cost effectively, and this report sets out a
range of good practice in policy-making which if implemented more
widely by departments could make a major contribution to the
Government’s drive to improve public services and deliver value for
money to citizens and taxpayers."
Notes for Editors
The Cabinet Office White Paper "Modernising Government" was
published in March 1999, and the Cabinet Office published
"Professional Policy Making for the Twenty First Century" in
September 1999, setting out the key principles which policies
should aspire to.
The Centre for Management and Policy Studies was formed as part
of the Cabinet Office in June 1999 to help departments develop
better policies and translate them into action by making policy
more evidence-based, identifying and promoting good practice
approaches to policy-making, and training and developing public
sector managers.
The NAO report draws on case studies from government
departments, local authorities, the private sector and the
voluntary sector. It sets out examples of good practice in policy
design, implementation and maintenance over time, and examines the
steps needed to secure value for money and to identify and manage
the risks of policies not delivering what is intended. Examples of
departmental policies examined include the Department of Health’s
Meningitis C vaccination programme, the Department for Education
and Skills’ National Literacy Strategy, and the Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ Arable Stewardship Programme.
The report notes the progress made in the development and promotion
of better policy-making by the Cabinet Office, including their
report being published today "Better
Policy-Making". Two related NAO reports shortly to be published
also of relevance for risk and value for money in policy-making
will assess the use made of regulatory impact assessments in the
policy process, and how government is joining up to improve service
delivery.
Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website at http://www.nao.org.uk/ Hard copies can
be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, is the head
of the National Audit Office employing some 750 staff. He and the
NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 49/01
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