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


The report, Engagement and Aspiration: Reconnecting Policy Making with Front-Line Professionals, commissioned by the Cabinet Office, 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.


Notes to editors



1. This independent study was commissioned by the Cabinet Office in July 2008 to feed into a broader programme of work on public service reform.


2. It was co-funded by the Cabinet Office, Sunningdale Institute and the Department for Innovation Universities and Skill’s Innovation Hub and produced for the Cabinet Office by the following Fellows of the Sunningdale Institute:

· Sir David Omand GCB – Visiting Professor, King’s College London and former Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary

· Professor Ken Starkey –Professor of Management and Organisational Learning, Nottingham University Business School

· Lord Victor Adebowale CBE – Visiting Professor, Lincoln University


The study was project managed by the Public Service Workforce Reform Team within the Cabinet Office


3. Engagement and Aspiration: Reconnecting Policy Making with Front-Line Professionals is available at www.nationalschool.gov.uk/downloads/EngagementandAspirationReport.pdf 


4. Working Together - Public Services On Your Side, the Government vision for the future shape of public services in, was published 10 March 2009. For more information visit http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/newsroom/news_releases/2009/090310_workingtogether.aspx 


5. The Sunningdale Institute is a virtual academy of leading thinkers on management, organisation and governance. Managed by the National School with the Cabinet Secretary as its President, the Sunningdale Institute comprises Fellows from the UK, Europe and North America with expertise relevant to public service. It is directed by the National School’s Professor Sue Richards and its Chairman is Professor Cary Cooper of University of Lancaster. For more information visit http://www.nationalschool.gov.uk/sunningdaleinstitute/index.asp 


6. The National School of Government is the centre of excellence for innovation in learning and development in support of public service transformation and was made a non-ministerial government department in 2007. It strives to ensure the highest professional and academic standards in organisational and people development. Visit www.nationalschool.gov.uk for more information.


7. The Public Service Workforce Reform Team (formally part of the Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat and now part of the Cabinet Office's Public Service Reform Group) advises on workforce issues that will improve public services. The team works in partnership with public, private and third sector employers and national trade unions on programmes to deliver workforce policy and innovations. For more information visit www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/workforcematters.aspx 



8. For media enquiries, please contact Alfred Bacchus, email Alfred.bacchus@nationalschool.gsi.gov.uk , tel: 01344 634253, or Chris Blunkell, email chris.blunkell@btinternet.com, tel: 01227 772747, m 07941 831341.