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King's Research Portal View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by King's Research Portal King’s Research Portal Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication record in King's Research Portal Citation for published version (APA): Levitt, R., & Solesbury, W. (2012). Policy Tsars: here to stay but more transparency needed. King's College London. Citing this paper Please note that where the full-text provided on King's Research Portal is the Author Accepted Manuscript or Post-Print version this may differ from the final Published version. If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections. 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Feb. 2017 Policy tsars: here to stay but more transparency needed Final report Dr Ruth Levitt and William Solesbury Visiting Senior Research Fellows Department of Political Economy King’s College London, UK November 2012 with corrections December 2012 http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/politicaleconomy/research/tsars.aspx © Dr Ruth Levitt and William Solesbury 2012 Policy tsars: here to stay but more transparency needed Contents List of Figures ..................................................................................... iii List of Tables ...................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements .............................................................................. iv Corrections ......................................................................................... iv Abbreviations ....................................................................................... v Main findings .......................................................................................... 1 Recommendations ................................................................................... 2 1. Introduction ........................................................................................ 4 Research question ................................................................................ 7 The context of ‘open policy making’ ......................................................... 8 Sources and research methods ............................................................... 9 2 The rise of tsar appointments 1997-2012 ............................................. 12 The number of tsars ............................................................................ 12 The rising trend in appointing tsars........................................................ 13 3 Which ministers appointed the tsars? .................................................. 15 Frequency of tsar appointments ............................................................ 15 Appointment processes ........................................................................ 18 Changes of minister ............................................................................ 22 Ministers’ motives ............................................................................... 23 4 Who are the tsars? ........................................................................... 26 Demographics and diversity ................................................................. 26 Career backgrounds ............................................................................ 28 Expertise ........................................................................................... 31 Model A: the ‘specialist’ .................................................................... 35 Model B: the ‘generalist’ ................................................................... 35 Model C: the ‘advocate’..................................................................... 35 Tsars’ motivations .............................................................................. 36 Remuneration .................................................................................... 38 5 What were the tsars’ remits? ............................................................. 41 Titles ................................................................................................ 41 Types of remit .................................................................................... 42 The variety of remits ........................................................................... 43 Tsars versus other sources of external expert advice ................................ 44 6 What working methods do tsars adopt? ............................................... 46 i Policy tsars: here to stay but more transparency needed Terms of reference ............................................................................. 46 Durations .......................................................................................... 47 Methods ............................................................................................ 48 Assistance ......................................................................................... 51 Analytical support ............................................................................ 53 Administrative support ...................................................................... 53 Contact with ministers and senior officials .............................................. 53 Value for money ................................................................................. 54 7 How effective are tsars? .................................................................... 56 Outputs ............................................................................................ 56 Outcomes: ministerial responses ........................................................... 57 Outcomes: parliamentary responses ...................................................... 58 Annex 1.1 Tsars 1997-2012 .................................................................... 63 Annex 1.2 Tsars undertaking multiple appointments ................................... 75 Annex 1.3 Tsar pairs .............................................................................. 76 Annex 2.1 Summary profile..................................................................... 77 Annex 2.2 Full profile ............................................................................. 77 Annex 3.1 Freedom of Information requests: payment ................................ 78 Annex 3.2 Freedom of Information requests: reporting ................................ 79 Annex 4 Interviewees ............................................................................ 81 Annex 5 Writings and communications ...................................................... 83 ii Policy tsars: here to stay but more transparency needed List of Figures Figure 1 Annual rate of tsar appointments 1997-2012.............................................. 14 Figure 2 Women tsars by policy area ..................................................................... 27 Figure 3 Career backgrounds: economic policy (BIS, HMT) ....................................... 30 Figure 4 Career backgrounds: social policy (DCMS, DfE, DH, DWP) ............................ 30 Figure 5 Career backgrounds: home policy (DCLG, HO, MOJ) .................................... 30 Figure 6 Career backgrounds: infrastructure policy (DECC, DEFRA, DTP) .................... 31 Figure 7 Career backgrounds: foreign and security policy (DfID, FCO, MOD) ............... 31 Figure 8 Career backgrounds: government policy (CO, PM) ...................................... 31 Figure 9 Expertise: economic policy (BIS, HMT) ...................................................... 33 Figure 10 Expertise: social policy (DCMS, DfE, DH, DWP) ......................................... 33 Figure 11 Expertise: home policy (DCLG, HO, MOJ) ................................................. 34 Figure 12 Expertise: infrastructure policy (DECC, DEFRA, DTP) ................................. 34 Figure 13 Expertise: foreign and security policy (DfID, FCO, MOD) ............................ 34 Figure 14 Expertise: government policy (CO, PM) .................................................... 35 Figure 15 Policy cycle .......................................................................................... 43 Figure 16 Duration of tsars’ appointments .............................................................. 48 List of Tables Table 1 Tsars: appointments................................................................................. 12 Table 2 Tsars: individuals ....................................................................................
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