Written evidence submitted by Hans Peter Ulrich, Civio Public Policy Consulting and Publisher of website

Transcription

1 Written evidence submitted by Hans Peter Ulrich, Civio Public Policy Consulting and Publisher of website Prime Minister: Prerogative and Power Effectiveness Requires Clarity Systems Based Approach Needed To Define The Tasks And Powers Of Prime Minster And To Ensure Their Effective Execution The Context: Comprehensive Review Of Policy Making System Required (New Constitution) 1. Role Of PM Diffuse And Unregulated Looking at the description of the issues and questions drafted by the PCRC, the role of the Prime Minister appears very diffuse and unregulated. Statements such as there is no codified definition of his role set out in statute or the scope of the Royal prerogative power is notoriously difficult to determine, or that the current framework would require substantial disentangling, a large scale and complex exercise, confirm this. 2. Lack Of Clarity Greatly Distracts From The Quality And Effectiveness Of British Policy Making In my perspective this lack of clarity greatly distracts from the quality and effectiveness of British policy making as a whole. Deficits in the definition of prime leadership tasks in the policy making system will have trickle-down effects into all levels of policy making. 3. Inquiry By Public Administration Select Committee On Strategy Making In Cabinet Office A Case In Point An inquiry of the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) of Parliament highlights the detrimental effect of deficient leadership in a critical fashion. It concludes on the issue of strategy making as a core element of British policy making: We have little confidence that Government policies are informed by a clear, coherent strategic approach, itself informed by a coherent assessment of the public s aspirations and their perceptions of the national interest. The Cabinet and its committees are made accountable for decisions, but there remains a critical unfulfilled role at the centre of Government in coordinating and reconciling priorities, to ensure that long-term and short-term goals are coherent across departments. Policy decisions are made for short-term reasons, little reflecting the longer-term interests of the nation. This has led to mistakes which are becoming evident in such areas as the Strategic Defence and Security Review (carrier policy), energy (electricity generation and renewables) and climate change, and child

2 poverty targets (which may not be achieved), and economic policy (lower economic growth than forecast). (Source: House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee, Strategic thinking in Government: without National Strategy, can viable Government strategy emerge? Twenty Fourth Report of Session ) As the conclusion points out, the failure of the Head of Government to set up an effective strategy making system in public policy has concrete negative effects on the well-being of the people of the UK and even for the world (global warming - at least with great probability). 4. Critical Challenges For UK, The World, And Humanity The challenges which our nations and the globe are facing at the present are enormous. As Al Gore points out, next to the existential threat by global warming, we are over-exploiting the resources of our earth, there are critical risks for increasing unemployment due to robotisation, 3-D-printing in combination with internet technology. Increasing imbalances in society threaten its stability. Some observers suggest that we are entering a new age in the history of man in which man shapes the earth and life, including human life on earth, in an unprecedented fashion (biogenetics). 5. Government Of The Highest Degree Of Effectiveness Required For the UK to remain strong in these times of global change, to maintain economic and social stability, and to maintain the globe in a good state for future generations demands a government (policy making system) of the highest degree of effectiveness. 6. Effectiveness Demands Clarity In order to achieve the highest degree of effectiveness absolute clarity is required on which person and which institution addresses which aspect of the innumerate and interdependent aspects affecting the well-being of people, the maintenance of the nation, and the world. Especially the role of the Prime Minister as the top and all-controlling executive element in policy making and the prerequisites for the PM to fulfil this role effectively must be identified absolutely clearly for the entire policy making system to be effective. 7. Present List Of Duties Cannot Be Fulfilled By A Single Person In his deposition of February 21 st 2014 Professor Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield, FBA, provides, among others, a 2011 list of the duties of the prime Minister covering three and a half pages. He suggested in the hearing on March 27 th that a Prime Minster cannot possibly handle all the tasks contained in this list. 8. A Constructive, Systems Approach To Defining The Role Of The Prime Minster

3 Aiming to define the role of the Prime Minister based on historical experiences, present observations, or political studies appears not generate a clearly defined role of the Prime Minister. These approaches appear to lack an inherent logical structure. Attempts by Parliament to define the role of the Prime Minister should look for other constructive, problem solving oriented methodologies as they are provided by management sciences and Systems Thinking. The other mentioned approaches should function as subsidiary methods to fill in thoughts, experiences and suggestions into a structured framework provided by these approaches. 9. A Needs And Expectation Based Definition Of The Role Of The PM Applying a systems based approach to define the Prime Minister s tasks in an effective, manageable manner we should first simply look at his or her fundamental function in a democracy. In a democracy governed by the people, the Prime Minister s functions are determined by the needs and expectations of the people. People generally strive for maximal well-being. The people elect the prime minister with exactly this set of needs and expectations and purpose in mind: Society, the people of a country, need and want an effective public policy system to support them in maximizing their well-being. More concretely they need a system which identifies all public aspects of relevance to their well-being and which manages those aspects in such a way that they support or at least do not interfere with their own efforts in maximising well-being. The key task to be formulated for a Prime Minister on the basis of these considerations, therefore, can be formulated as: to set up and lead an effective policy making system for the UK identifying, prioritizing, and managing all public policy aspects of relevance for the wellbeing of present and future generations of the UK in such a fashion that the well-being of people can be maximised, that the health and stability of society is maintained, and that the country and the globe is maintained in a good state for future generations. 10. A Single, But Highly Complex Leadership And Management Task With this definition the Prime Minister has only one task to do, albeit a highly complex and demanding one: to set up a system of systems to serve the well-being of people while taking the needs of future generations into account. 11. Some Of The Prime Sub-Systems Needed Within The Policy Making System In order to get a better grasp on the systemic leadership tasks to be handled by the Prime Minister we can identify some of the prime sub-systems which are likely to be needed within the policy making system and which the PM needs to install: A system to identify what the tasks and obligations of the people in the pursuit of well-being are, and what in fact the tasks and obligations of the state are.

4 A system to inform people about these different roles and the healthy and productive interaction between state and people (including effective citizenship education). A system to identify public policy issues, including risks and opportunities for the well-being of people. A system to prioritize these issues. An effective decision making system and process on policy issues. A system to design effective strategies for the management of these issues. A system to implement these strategies in an effective manner (This system will include ministries and the civil service, and also the co-operation between national, regional and local policy levels). 12. A System To Handle Extraordinary Issues And Demands Obviously a society may also look to a Head of State as a leadership figure especially in extraordinary circumstances. Of course a PM also needs to adopt this responsibility and have effective systems and processes in place for such an occasion. This does not relive the PM of his main responsibility for making sure that the overall policy making system operates effectively and efficiently. 13. Qualifications Of The PM Change In Thinking in Society and Parliament Required As these thoughts on the leadership tasks of the PM highlight, it is not only necessary to define the leadership role of the PM exactly. It is also crucial to make sure that the PM has in fact the required qualifications for the tasks defined, so that the policy making system can and will be effective. Among other qualifications the PM must concretely have the capacities to understand his or her functional leadership role precisely, he or she must know how to set-up effective systems, including a sound decision making system geared towards the maximisation of well-being for the citizens. So far society obviously neither defines the role of the Head of Government precisely, nor ensures that the Prime Minister has the qualifications required for the job. The lack of an effective strategy making system shows the damaging effects of this failure for a democratic society like the UK. If society and Parliament, as the policy control system on behalf of society, want to make public policy effective, society and Parliament must change their thinking about the role and also the qualifications required for the tasks of the PM. We should mention that next to the management qualifications pointed out, the leadership of a state certainly also requires the traditional qualifications of a Head

5 of State such as an understanding of political systems and practices and of philosophical, sociological, and psychological aspects in the leadership of people. 14. PPE (Oxford) Does Not Train Management Sciences And Systems Thinking It is noteworthy that studying PPE, ideally in Oxbridge, is considered as the key entrance into a career into British politics. The undergraduate PPE syllabus at the University of Oxford for example, however, does not include any express training in management sciences or systems thinking at this point in time, even if the entire system designing and implementing public policy in the UK presently accounts for several hundred thousand persons, larger than any corporation (Syllabus only includes Comparative Demographic Systems and Quantitative Methods in Politics and Sociology cf. University of Oxford, PPE, Prospective Students, Course Contents as of 28 March 2014). If the above concept on the systemic tasks of the PM above should be accepted, society, educational institutions, and Parliament may need to discuss tailoring the training of politicians more specifically to meet this definition and to include training in management methods. Ultimately all politicians should understand the policy making system as a system of system and possess the knowledge on how to optimize the performance of systems. 15. An Effective System Supporting The Prime Minister In His Or Her Leadership Functions In spite of these thoughts and suggestions on the required qualifications and training of politicians, especially of a PM, the know-how of individual persons on the best approaches for setting up effective systems in policy making can never be complete and up-to date. Since it is so crucial for the health and stability of a nation that the policy making system is effective, the Prime Minister, therefore, must be supported by a management system informing him or her on what the best methods for setting up an effective policy making system for the country are. Obviously this management system can only then provide the best support to the PM, if it itself is organised in the most effective manner possible. It must have a complete overview over potential management and leadership approaches. 16. Ensuring That The PM Applies Best Methods And Procedures - The Relevance Of Effective Control By Parliament In order to ensure that the PM not only is aware what the best methods in governing the country are, but also in fact applies these methods, effective control by parliament (acting on behalf of the citizens) is required.

6 PASC suggested for example in the course of its inquiry that strategy making in the Cabinet Office was largely guided by a government focus on potential press headlines, rather than on policy making which serves the long-term benefit of the nation and its citizens. Ensuring the application of sound decision and strategy making methodologies in government through effective parliamentary control will help to avoid such deviations. 17. The Context: The Need For A New Constitution The UK policy making system has grown and developed over centuries. As experts have suggested it is a collection of habits and traditions. As the uncertainties about the role of the Prime Minister highlight, the UK policy making system is, therefore, in many ways not structured effectively: Next to the role of the prime minister, the system of government control is under constant scrutiny, particularly the question whether one needs a second control chamber in the form of the House of Lords or not. The key question here, if one wants to create an effective policy making system, might be, how to create one effective control system rather than having two whose effectiveness is uncertain. Third, on a more technical level, there are such examples as the strategy making process, an issue of central relevance for the quality of policy making, which are not being handled in an effective manner and in which effective control needs to put effective processes and systems in place. Forth, there is the issue of fading engagement of citizens in democracy, of disenfranchisement, of parties having fewer and fewer members and representing a lower share of the population. We have to think about how to motivate and enable people to get involved in policy making in a constructive fashion again. A fifth issue in this context and widely debated in the public sphere today is the demand for more direct democracy. We need to define in which sectors direct democracy is useful or not. All of these issues are interdependent, relevant for the effectiveness of policy making, for the well-being of people, and for the stability of the nation. In order to make democracy effective all mechanisms and parameters determining the effectiveness of policy making need to be analysed in a comprehensive approach and put in place to make sure the overall policy making system is as effective as required in this time of globalisation and technological change.

7 Such a comprehensive effort should be organised in the context of establishing a new Constitution which specifies the role of individual elements in the policy making system precisely (while maintaining as many of the existing processes, which have proven to be effective and form part of the British political tradition, as possible). As suggested clarity appears essential for effectiveness. Drawing up a new Constitution in writing and to look at each and every stipulation it might contain appears essential in order to make the policy making system as effective as conceivable. 18. Identifying The Best Methods On How To Generate An Effective Constitution - The Starting Point Required Establishing a most effective policy making system, with defining the role of the PM, is a problem, which needs to be solved. Just as an architect needs the best approaches in building a house, people involved in building a constitution must know what the best methods and approaches in problem-solving are. The starting point in designing a new Constitution must be an effective inquiry and debate on methods: What are the best methods and approaches in generating an effective constitution? One method is the simple systems based approach suggested here. There may well be other suitable methodologies available. 19. Joining Efforts London School of Economics (LSE) recently has initiated a project ConstitutionUK which aims to present a new constitution by April 2015, 800 years after the signing of the Magna Charta. Generating a new constitution requires enormous resources, if the result is to be of the quality required by society and if the best result for a new constitution is to be generated in a limited time. Parliament should support and join efforts with other institutions in society in designing a new constitution, if it wants to ensure the effectiveness of the British policy making system. 20. Not Only The British Democratic Policy Making System Needs To Be Overhauled It should be mentioned that systemic deficiencies as those concerning the lack of effective control over government or in strategy making will exists in many democracies, also in the democracies which have a written constitution. Many democracies suffer from the mentioned disenfranchisement of society with democratic processes, which turns voters over to more extreme parties and as history has shown - puts democracy itself at risk. Also in other democracies, not only in the UK, policy making processes and systems need to be reassessed and restructured. Also in other democracies it is

8 necessary to evaluate, how the people can be re-engaged in the process of democratic policy making. If the UK could set an example on how to re-design its democratic policy making system in an effective manner, this might well have beneficial effects for the entire democratic world. April 2014