Where the Campaign goes….

The Ambition

On taking office as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown committed to taking the Better Regulation agenda to a new level by focusing upstream at where policy-making engages with risk. This is the critical starting-point of the regulatory process. It is here that culture and process must achieve a better understanding of public risk:

“The Government believes that policy-making would benefit considerably from a fuller and more rounded consideration of public risk. I have asked the Better Regulation Commission, building on its report 'Risk, Responsibility and Regulation', to devise a structure and approach that ensures that this ambition is embedded in real policy action, even when facing pressures to react to events.”

The BRC rose to the challenge of another strategic step change in dealing with regulation with their report 'Public Risk – The Next frontier for Better Regulation'.

Better conversations inside government / better dialogue with the public outside.

Getting there – now to cascade the effect into all walks of life…see the Campaign Agenda!

Better conversations inside government / better dialogue with the public outside.

The structure the BRC recommended was a new independent advisory body, the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council. The approach was to work with the decision-makers on a special choice of topics in the form of experiential learning, moving away from the former model of published reports and recommendations. Each topic would have a Risk and Regulation Forum convened as an action learning set of all those principally involved in the design of the regulatory policy – Ministers, senior officials and external stakeholders – facilitated by experienced coaches.

Over time, the lessons from each topic would be uncovered, analysed and passed on for future benefit. The RRAC would also start to address the public’s appetite for risk – trying to unpick the frequent dilemmas between a desire for protection but a rejection of nannying. The RRAC would aim to be the voice of reason, offering a more responsible alternative to whatever the clamour of the crisis may be demanding.

Getting there – now to cascade the effect into all walks of life…see the Campaign Agenda!