Abstract

Policy and Politics: synergy or dysergy?

Lord Lansley will consider how policy is made, taking account of evidence and influences; he will look at how policy-making interacts with the political process, exploring whether politics adds value to the objective work of policy- makers in government and beyond, or whether the two processes, of government and politics, tend to conflict in terms of processes and outcomes. He will argue that a clearer focus on outcomes, both in policy analysis and in politics, would enable more transparent democratic accountability and a more synergistic relationship between the political process and the demands of government.

Lord Lansley was formerly a civil servant, Director of the Conservative Research Department, Member of Parliament and a Cabinet Minister in the last Coalition government.

This seminar will be held under the Chatham House Rule.