Stiwardiaeth y System – system stewardship Welsh style

The Institute has welcomed news that the housing strategy on which the Welsh Government is currently consulting puts the notion of government as system steward at its heart.

In April, the Institute published a report, System Stewardship as one of a trio of papers on policy making (alongside Making Policy Better and Policy Making in the Real World). In it, author, Michael Hallsworth looked at the future of policy-making in a decentralised and increasingly complex world. He argued that the role of policy makers needs to change so that they become stewards of systems with multiple actors and decision makers rather than sitting on top of a delivery chain.

System stewardship in action

The new housing document sets out the role the Welsh government will play to achieve its objectives for the housing system. It acknowledges the complexity of the landscape and the need for government to take a different approach to meeting its policy goals:

“However, the overall health of the housing market is the product of a complex system comprising interlocking markets for land, construction, finance options for householders and the prices set in the existing housing stock. In addition, not all possible levers are within the control of the Welsh Government.  

In taking this approach the role of the Welsh Government must perform as the ‘system steward’, ensuring the combination of planning policies, regulations, various forms of planning obligations, financing support and construction sector incentives combine to ensure that enough new homes are built to meet the rising demand”.

The Institute for Government’s Programme Director, Jill Rutter said:

“It’s important that as governments face increasingly sophisticated and complex policy challenges, they are open to new ways of managing them. The old top-down policy making framework simply doesn’t “fit” the issues encountered by governments today. Instead, policy makers need to recognise that the results depend both on the interventions they make but also on the decisions of many other actors.   The Welsh government clearly understands the need to recast its role to what we call “system steward”. We will be watching their progress with interest”.