Policy Hub
The policy making process is flexible and innovative, questioning established ways of dealing with things, encouraging new and creative ideas; and where appropriate, making established ways work better. Wherever possible, the process is open to comments and suggestions of others. Risks are identified and actively managed.
Diversity
Flexible Employment
Innovation
Risk Management
An innovative, flexible and creative approach brings in people from outside into policy team.
The Civil Service Diversity website provides civil servants and other public sector workers with a central point of information on all aspects of the diversity agenda. It includes examples of best practice and links to a range of Diversity resources.
Delivering on Gender equality: supporting the PSA objective on gender equality 2002-2006. Women & Equality Unit, 2003 (496Kb) - sets out specific targets and initiatives across Government, which have been identified as key to delivering improvements in gender equality and sets these in the broader context of the work going on across Government to make a positive impact on gender equality.
Equality and Diversity in Local Government in England. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2003 - an overview of recent literature, mainly in the last seven years, which deals with how local authorities have dealt with issues of equality and diversity.
The Equality Project - initiated by the Women's and Equality Unit, looking at long term options for statutory equality institutions in Great Britain, including the feasibility of creating a single equality commission. The initial phase of this project was completed in October 2002, with the publication of a consultation document entitled Equality and Diversity: Making it Happen.
Families and work in the twenty-first century. Rowntree Foundation, 2003 examines the values and attitudes of mothers and fathers. It offers important insights into where families feel most pressure and concludes that parents' views run counter to the thrust of government policy on issues such as child care and weekend working.
The Gender Research Forum was launched by the Women and Equality Unit, the Economic and Social Research Council, and the Office for National Statistics at an inaugural meeting in London on 29 June 2001. Its aim is to provide users and providers of gender research with an opportunity to exchange information and views on current gender-related research.
Why baby boomers won't be pensioned off. Demos, 2003 - examines the values and attitudes of the baby boomer generation ('The new old') and concludes that these may lead to more positive models of retirement.
Balancing work and family life: enhancing choice and support for parents. Department of Trade and Industry, 2003 - a strategy for helping parents balance work and family responsibilities.
Childcare services at atypical times. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2003 - examines the barriers to developing childcare services to cover atypical working hours.
With the report below, argues that stronger action to protect working parents from the growing pressures of the 24-hour, 7-day-a-week society may be at least as important as making childcare services available at evenings and weekends.
Combining self-employment and family life. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2003 - draws attention to the negative consequences of 24/7 society on self-employed families.
Geographic impacts: family impacts. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2003 - assesses the impact of job relocation on family life.
The role of flexible employment for older workers. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2003 - surveys have found that many people who lose their jobs in their 50s and 60s find it difficult to re-establish a career. This study by the Policy Studies Institute examines the role of such 'bridge' jobs in the lives of people leaving work between 50 and state retirement age.
Working Fathers: earning and caring - Equal Opportunities Commission, 2003 (871kb) - about the work-life balance experience of fathers. The report found that fathers' expectations about whether specific work-life balance practices could be made available in their current workplace were low and that fathers are less likely than mothers to make use of those that are in place.
An innovative, flexible and creative approach uses alternatives to the usual ways of working and take steps to create management structures which promote new ideas and effective team working.
Improvement and Development Agency (IdEA) - established by and for local government, through partnership and cross fertilisation, assembles the most relevant practical knowledge and expertise to deliver solutions and best practice for local councils. They have also launched IdEA knowledge, an innovative internet-based hub of best practice, ideas and solutions transferring local government expertise about what works and why.
Innovation Forum - launched in the Summer 2001 by the New Local Government Network. This provides an area for policy-makers, professional managers and service deliverers to produce and develop ideas to contribute to the change agenda in local government and contribute ideas around successful implementation strategies. Note this site uses Flash and may not be accessible from some servers.
Innovative initiatives to enhance public service delivery - announced by HM Treasury on 20 March 2003. A total of 47 projects across the public and voluntary sectors will receive a total of £28 million under the Invest to Save Budget.
The Invest to Save Budget (ISB) is jointly managed between Treasury and Cabinet Office and provides funds to encourage two or more public bodies to initiate new processes to provide innovative and improved modes of service.
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee published a report on 8 May 2003 which examines what the Invest to Save Budget has so far achieved and the extent to which lessons learned from the projects have been implemented (Improving public services through innovation: the Invest to Save Budget).
New Local Government Network encourages new thinking about how to achieve better local government.
The Six Thinking Hats was designed as a creative thinking technique by Edward de Bono, a leading authority on lateral and creative thinking. Each hat represents a different mode of thinking. Effective use of 'thinking hats' can focus thinking more clearly on the outcome rather than the process, lead to more creative thinking and improve communication and thus decision making.
??What If is an innovation consultancy that have developed a variety of tool kits to encourage and stimulate innovation and creativity within organisations.
An innovative, flexible and creative approach consciously assesses and manages risks.
Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation (CARR) examines the organisational and institutional settings of risk management and regulation with an intention to analyse and explain variations in 'risk regulation' practice.
HM Treasury's Risk Programme and the National Audit Office (NAO) have highlighted how early risk assessment and management can help to ensure policies can be successfully delivered. The Risk Management Assessment framework (pdf file) is a useful tool in this process
HM Treasury Risk Support website contains information on the implementation of recommendations from the above report. It a comprehensive programme of change to improve risk management across government and a number of links on risk and risk management.
Managing risks to the public: Appraisal Guidance HM Treasury, 2005 - supplementary guidance to the Green Book, Appraisal and Evaluation in Central Government. It provides guidance for developing and assessing proposals that affect the risk of fatalities, injury and other harms to the public in line with the Government's Principles of Managing Risks to the Public - openness and transparency, involvement, proportionality and consistency, evidence and responsibility. The guidance also contains a tool to help structure and make explicit the evaluation of concerns that may exist about risks of fatality and harm.
Orange Book: Management of Risk: principles and concepts. HM Treasury, 2004 - guidance on developing a strategic framework for the organisational consideration of risk. It points towards some tools and techniques which may be adopted by an organisation as it considers the adequacy of its risk management processes.
Impact assessment and appraisal. Strategy Unit guidance checklist for policy makers which includes guidance on risk.
Improving government's capability to handle risk and uncertainty. Strategy Unit, 2003 - identifies the ways in which government needs systematically to develop its capacity to handle risk and makes proposals for improving the way government handles and communicates about risk to the public.
The National Audit Office (NAO) is responsible for ensuring that government departments spend resources with economy, efficiency and effectiveness. This includes an analysis of the risks associated with the implementation of new policies. Key reports include:-
Public perceptions of risk, science and governance project - undertaken in May 2002 as part of the ESRC Science in Society Programme. Research on how public attitudes towards science, risk and associated forms of governance interact. Covers views on science, scientific institutions, governance, regulation and social justice, all linked to roles of government, business and civil society generally.
Public Sector Benchmarking Service includes links to a variety of sources and services that support risk management which have been developed to support the Risk Management Programme. Members can also access the Risk Management Database which include examples of best practice on risk management. The PSBS Members Area also hosts a number of discussion groups on aspects of risk management.
Better Regulation Executive (BRE) provides advice on identifying risk in policy initiatives and assessing options to deal with this. Specific guidance on managing risk is contained in the following BRE guidance:-
Regulatory Impact Assessment Guidance. Cabinet Office, updated 2005 - provides background information on the meaning and purpose of RIAs and step by step guidance on the procedure for preparing and presenting them.
Successful Delivery Toolkit developed by the Office of Government Commerce also includes extensive guidance on risk management within the context of programme and project delivery.