Opening up policy making in practice: has Defra’s Animal Health and Welfare Board for England made a difference?

The Animal Health and Welfare Board for England is at the cutting edge of open policy making, bringing external input and rigour into the heart of the decision making process. I see the Board as an opportunity for industry to contribute in the policy making process at the earliest stage and bring a practical side to those polices: a combination which will lead to better policy making and practical delivery. Readers will be familiar with the traditional Whitehall model which sees civil servants submitting policy issue advice to ministers based on information gathered from outside departments and advisory groups etc. Our board functions in a very different way. Firstly, it is the primary source of strategic policy advice to ministers on animal health and welfare issues in England – recommendations are not submitted by policy teams, but as chair, I submit them on behalf of the Board following debate and throughout our first year, consensus in our conclusions. And secondly, the Board facilitates a working partnership between officials and industry interests during policy development and decision-making processes. Formally part of Defra’s structures, with four senior Defra policy and delivery interests represented, the Board is led by a non-executive chair and has six external members from the farming and equestrian worlds who were selected for the mix of skills they bring, aided by an economist. All non-executive Board members have portfolios of external interests to provide engagement into and out of Defra. Within business areas, non-executive members provide challenge and assurance to teams as they develop policy options. This structure helps officials develop more robust policy options and has transformed how policy choices are presented to and discussed with stakeholders. Critically, it provides ministers with the assurance that options have been constructively challenged and robustly scrutinised by both officials and by those with an external perspective before they are asked to make a decision. A further innovation is that policy recommendations are published by the Board as is the minister’s response. Our challenge isn’t atypical of Whitehall: we need to deliver positive policy outcomes – on Bovine TB, disease surveillance and animal Welfare amongst others – at a time when those issues are as challenging as they’ve ever been, and at a time of unprecedented cuts in government spending. The Board has been working since its establishment 14 months ago to drive Defra’s response to these challenges. The Board’s focus has evolved over that period and its work now centres around five broad themes: •outlining desired outcomes to policy teams •steering policy development •submitting recommendations to ministers •investigating and challenging current and future delivery models •engaging interested parties within and beyond Defra. Examples of how we’ve applied these themes include: •Non-executive Board members working with the Defra TB Team have led conversations with all interested parties on Bovine TB to help generate constructive reactions and ideas for development of future policy options. •Working closely with officials to develop an unprecedented review of Defra spend in the area of animal health and welfare, the benefits it buys, the rationale for government involvement, and options for different and new ways of delivering the same policy objective more effectively within budgets. •The Board helped develop and lead engagement with interested parties on a new animal disease surveillance strategy aimed at improving our surveillance capability at less cost. •Recommending to ministers not to proceed with a new National Equine Database, but instead working directly/getting the department to work directly with the horse industry to seek a comprehensive solution to issues around horse passports. •Recommending the introduction of voluntary, rather than statutory welfare codes for farmed species. Others will judge the value of the Board – there’ll be a formal evaluation next year – but my own view is that these examples illustrate the Board is having a positive influence and that it’s working as an integral part of Defra to shape smarter policy options for ministers. It has succeeded in promoting an effective and genuine working partnership between industry expertise and officials, and provides ministers and stakeholders with greater assurance that external expertise is being brought to bear in developing new ways of working.