Policy

A new network of research centres providing independent evidence to inform decision making in key policy areas will help to improve policy making in the civil service, according to Will Cavendish, executive director of the Cabinet Office's implementation unit.

It is the duty of civil servants to challenge weak policy ideas, the director general of civil service reform, Katherine Kerswell, has told Civil Service World – even if officials risk being seen as “obstructive”.

Andrew Dilnot, chair of the UK Statistics Authority, told the Public Administration Select Committee last week that he has written “six or seven” letters to departments complaining about the distortion of official statistics.

Government needs to set formal standards for making policy and drafting legislation, the Better Government Initiative (BGI) argues in a report published today.

Never mind the NAO; ministers too hate a risk gone wrong

Education secretary Michael Gove has attacked the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the National Audit Office (NAO) as “forces of conservatism” that discourage risk-taking and innovation.

The Cabinet Office Behavioural Insights Team, or ‘nudge unit’, has secured its first overseas contract.

Civil servants should be prepared to see further significant changes to their accountability arrangements, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude told CSW yesterday after he announced plans to publish permanent secretaries’ objectives online.

Civil servants should not be experts in any particular fields, but instead should be generalist administrators, Cabinet Office minister Oliver Letwin said in a speech at the Institute for Government on Monday.

The think tank contracted by the Cabinet Office to provide external policy advice on the future of civil service accountability has published research setting out its conclusions on the topic, CSW can reveal.

Civil servants are split over whether outsourcing policymaking is a good idea in principle, but a clear majority have concerns about implementation, exclusive research by CSW has revealed. The greatest concern is that ministers will commission policy work from favoured institutions, creating “unchallenged bias” in the policymaking process.

More than half – 56 per cent – of all senior civil servants and grade six and seven officials believe that the Freedom of Information Act sometimes prevents open and honest policy discussions, exclusive research by CSW has found.