THE ROLE OF THE PRIME MINISTER'S POLICY UNIT
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1987.tb00674.x |
| Author | DAVID WILLETTS |
| Date | 01 December 1987 |
| Published date | 01 December 1987 |
CURRENTS
THE
ROLE
OF
THE PRIME MINISTER‘S POLICY UNIT
DAVID WILLETTS
The Prime Minister’s Policy Unit, also known as the Number 10 Policy Unit,
comprises a team of about eight advisers each responsible for briefing her in a
major area of policy (ecluding such issues as foreign policy and security). Together
with three secretaries they occupy a set of rooms straddling 10 and
11
Downing
Street (a modest encroachment on the Chancellor’s residence of such long standing
that it appears not to be resented).
Location is of course crucial in the higher realms of administration. The
Number 10 Policy Unit is not part of the Cabinet Office at 70 Whitehall. The locked
door between Number 10 and the Cabinet Office serves a constitutional as well
as a security function. The Policy Unit is very much a part of the Prime Minister’s
own machine in Downing Street. But it is just slightly removed from the Private
Office where the Prime Minister is served and supported minute by minute.
If
necessary a competent member of the Policy Unit (just like a good official anywhere
in Whitehall) should be able to produce a good clear piece of policy advice within
an hour of a problem coming up. But normally the Policy Unit works on a timetable
determined by that night’s box, the weekend box, or a meeting planned several
days in advance. And even if the timetable is tight and determined by others, the
work itself need not be at all passive.
HISTORY
Although only created in 1974, the history of the Policy Unit already falls into
three clear periods matching the Parliaments of 1974-79, 1979-83, and since 1983.
The changes in the Policy Unit’s role in these periods have been marked.
David Willetts is Director of Studies at the Centre for Policy Studies. He worked in the Prime Minister’s
Policy Unit from April 1984 to December 1986. This essay has been adapted from his prize-winning
entry to the 1986 Haldane Essay Competition, which has been organized annually by the RIPA
since 1924.
Public Administration Vol. 65 Winter 1987 (443-454)
0
Royal Institute of Public Administration
ISSN
0033-3298
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