Reconnecting Policy Making with Front-Line Professionals

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Published: 31 March 2009

Reconnecting Policy Making with Front-Line Professionals

The re-invention of policy making to ensure delivery of cost effective & efficient services responsive to people’s needs is proposed by the National School of Government’s Sunningdale Institute in a newly published report.

Engagement and Aspiration: Reconnecting Policy Making with Front-Line Professionals - commissioned by the Cabinet Office - report looks at how to develop better links between Whitehall policy makers and front-line professionals to drive forward public service reform.

It calls for more engagement with front-line professionals in policy-making in order to create policies that are as effective as they can possibly be.

Sir David Omand GCB, Sunningdale Institute Fellow and co-author, said:

“This report is a call to government to rediscover the old truth that good policy-making involves teamwork, uniting from the outset political vision, assessed evidence on the problem being addressed and the practical wisdom of those on the front-line experienced in serving the public."

Professor Ken Starkey, Sunningdale Institute Fellow and co-author said:

"We found excellent examples of front-line engagement driving change in public services. The challenge facing government is to spread this philosophy of enhanced aspiration and engagement right across the public sector, not least to help repair the connections damaged by a private sector too often geared to short-term profit at the expense of society."

Sir Gus O'Donnell, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service, said:

"We all share an ambition for excellent public services, but it is our colleagues who work at the front-line who know about what our customers really need, value and want. The Civil Service must work with and through others including those who deliver public services to ensure we develop policies that are innovative, effective and relevant."

Ray Shostak, Head of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit, said:

"Successful delivery of policy relies on motivated and skilled front line staff. The best way to guarantee that policy is turned into practice is to ensure policy makers really understand the reality of service delivery and engage with practitioners upstream in the policy process."

To achieve reconnection the report describes a new concept of modern policy coined the ‘Apogee Approach: Aspiring to Policy that is Grounded in Evidence and Experience’. This is about policy makers becoming expert at accessing both evidence and experience, and taking a pro-active networking and facilitative approach to policy-making.

The report’s key recommendations include:

Making front-line delivery a compulsory part of all policy advice to Ministers on public service reform.

Re-shaping policy work to support the new principles of public service reform.

Seeking out ideas and practical experiences to improve policy and increasing awareness of conditions at the front-line within departments.

Developing policy making skills and capability to have a stronger emphasis on connecting with and drawing professional insights from the front-line.

Capturing local professionals’ pride in their work and ensuring policies are accessible and understandable.

Ensuring an ‘active circle of learning’ between the front-line, intermediaries and central Whitehall departments capture insights in both directions.

Considering a core curriculum for policy work to be undertaken by the National School of Government and the policy head of profession.