Incorporating Regional Perspectives into Policymaking Toolkit (Sub-national)
(Cabinet Office, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2002)

What is it for?
This toolkit aims to ensure that policymaking is informed by a proper understanding of regional issues and priorities. It is intended to be a practical resource to support new thinking and a set of ideas and techniques that can be used to design better policymaking processes. The toolkit contains exercises to promote learning, encourage successful working and promote integrated policy development.

What does it say?
The project and report highlighted seven building blocks of sound policy development, which lead to long-term joined-up success. These are: culture; mapping need; strategic fit; networks and communications; project planning and accountability; organisational capacity; and evaluation and feedback.

How is it used?
The toolkit explores each of these building blocks in more depth and provides prompts, exercises and ideas to engage regions in policymaking.

Section 1 provides a diagnostic checklist to rate regional or departmental performance against these seven building blocks and to help you focus on areas where development is most needed.

Section 2 develops action-orientated exercises for each of the building blocks:

• Potential barriers to an outward looking approach are highlighted
  
• The regional and central exercises are separately identified so that within each exercise there are two possible sections with questions and prompts addressed at:
  
  • Establishing good foundations
    
  • Developing a specific new policy

Section 3 provides an overall checklist for the architecture of policy success. It highlights potential barriers and then makes recommendations for overcoming these, with the goal of establishing good foundations and developing a new policy.

When should it be used?
The toolkit is for use at three different stages of the policymaking process; at the development of new policy initiatives; when established policy is reviewed and updated; and when initiatives are developed quickly in the response to crisis events or public concerns.

For more information

• The toolkit is accompanied by 'Incorporating Regional Perspectives into Policymaking', which is available from the Cabinet Office Strategy Unit. The report and toolkit are intended to complement each other.

Source

• Cabinet Office, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (2002) Incorporating Regional Perspectives into Policymaking Toolkit [external website pdf]

• View this tool as pdf ( 36kb)

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