Characteristics of good policymaking
2.8 Figure 2.1 sets out 10 features which policy-making needs to display if it is
to respond effectively to challenges of the kind outlined earlier in this chapter. In summary, policy-making needs to be forward looking; outward looking;
innovative, flexible and creative; evidence-based; inclusive; joined up; to learn lessons from experience; to be communicated effectively; and to incorporate
ongoing evaluation and review.
2.9 The ten features set out in Figure 2.1 overlap and need to be considered
collectively. Taken together they reflect the type of analysis which needs to be applied in any given area. Alongside this, it is helpful to consider the
stages of the process. It is possible to illustrate the policy process in an easily understood form as a cycle as shown in Figure 2.2, recognising that
this approach is designed to assist in understanding the key concepts which underpin policy-making.
2.10 The key point which is highlighted by depicting policy-making as a cycle is that
policy-makers rarely, if ever, start from a clean sheet. In any policy area it should be possible to define the administrations existing policy, which in many cases
will be not to intervene. The need to review or develop a new policy should be identified through monitoring and evaluation of existing policy.
2.11 Figures 2.1 and 2.2 set out the analyses and process which policy-makers need
to apply. For policy making to be fully effective, civil servants involved in policy development not only need all the traditional attributes knowledge of relevant
law and practice, understanding of key stakeholders views, ability to design implementation systems, but they must also understand the context within
which they and the policy have to work. This means understanding not only the way organisations structures, processes and culture can influence
policy-making, but also understanding Ministers priorities and the way policies will work out in practice.
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Figure 2.2 - A policy cycle
M a
in ta
in in
g P
ol ic
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ic Th
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D e
v e
lo p
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Po lic
y Im
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A Policy Cycle
Understanding Context
Outcomes Options
Consensus Consultation
Submission
Recommendation
Decision
Announcement
Implement Maintain
Evaluate
Monitor
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2.12 Fuller understanding of the broad context within which policy works should help
policy-makers both when thinking about possible approaches to tackling a given problem and when they come to consider putting a particular solution into effect.
2.13 As already mentioned in the Introduction, whilst organisational and management
changes in the late 1980s and early 1990s emphasised the separation of policy- making and policy implementation, more recent good practice in policy-making
demands that they be reintegrated into a single, seamless, flexible process. Under devolution, this is especially so given the relatively direct accountability of
Ministers for service delivery - and the Assemblys expectation that it should be able to hold Ministers, their civil servants and others more closely involved in
service provision to account.
2.14 The Review of the Northern Ireland Civil Service Response to Devolution
