M4
Sean Pulley
Policy Development
Introduction
A policy is a proposal by an organisation or individual who have an idea or plan
which will change an existing law or problem. It will be agreed by a group of
people, the government or a political party. The policy will gather the opinion
of everyone involved and will be implemented if agreed fully.
I will now explain the stages a policy will go through before becoming a law.
Policy Process
Firstly, an idea must be raised, it will usually be suggested by the public, the
media, the public services, politicians or subject experts. It first starts out as an
idea, from here it will be discussed in government meetings, such as cabinet
meeting, parliamentary committees and subcommittees depending on the
importance of the policy. These types of committees will be smaller groups
consisting of politicians and civil servants. This stage is important as this is
where an idea will first be raised and if the policy isn’t popular within the
committee then it won’t go any further. If this is successful then it will go onto
the next stage which is the second discussion, here they will be looking for
permission to go public with the idea. Also within this stage they will discuss
their options and identify the cost they may occur. They will look at the policy
in further detail and if they think anything needs amending they will suggest
what to change. This stage is important as they will look for the approval of the
public and if the public don’t agree with the proposed policy, then there is a
high chance that it won’t go any further. From here it will go on to be a Green
Paper, this is a document that is given to any interested parties, this will help in
the gathering of views of any parties that are interested. It will also open a
consultation period where there will be a debate. The debates can be public
meetings, specialist consultation meetings and open enquiries from the
outside government. This stage is important as it allows the party putting the
policy across to identify costs, to give information so far obtained by
Sean Pulley
Policy Development
Introduction
A policy is a proposal by an organisation or individual who have an idea or plan
which will change an existing law or problem. It will be agreed by a group of
people, the government or a political party. The policy will gather the opinion
of everyone involved and will be implemented if agreed fully.
I will now explain the stages a policy will go through before becoming a law.
Policy Process
Firstly, an idea must be raised, it will usually be suggested by the public, the
media, the public services, politicians or subject experts. It first starts out as an
idea, from here it will be discussed in government meetings, such as cabinet
meeting, parliamentary committees and subcommittees depending on the
importance of the policy. These types of committees will be smaller groups
consisting of politicians and civil servants. This stage is important as this is
where an idea will first be raised and if the policy isn’t popular within the
committee then it won’t go any further. If this is successful then it will go onto
the next stage which is the second discussion, here they will be looking for
permission to go public with the idea. Also within this stage they will discuss
their options and identify the cost they may occur. They will look at the policy
in further detail and if they think anything needs amending they will suggest
what to change. This stage is important as they will look for the approval of the
public and if the public don’t agree with the proposed policy, then there is a
high chance that it won’t go any further. From here it will go on to be a Green
Paper, this is a document that is given to any interested parties, this will help in
the gathering of views of any parties that are interested. It will also open a
consultation period where there will be a debate. The debates can be public
meetings, specialist consultation meetings and open enquiries from the
outside government. This stage is important as it allows the party putting the
policy across to identify costs, to give information so far obtained by
