Nudging along
19th Sep 2011
In amongst the release, last week, of the Vickers Report into banking reform and the column inches expended on the annual game of pre-conference season speculation, it was easy to miss the publication of the annual update from the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT). BIT, more affectionately known as the Nudge Unit, was set up to great fanfare by the Prime Minister as a new way of tackling public policy issues and was charged with finding ‘intelligent ways to encourage, support and enable people to make better choices for themselves’.
Despite a certain degree of scoffing from some quarters, BIT has quietly set about its work and, working with a range of government departments, achieved some quite notable successes. In particular, work around encouraging greater levels of organ donation and increasing greater domestic energy efficiency are anticipated to generate optimal policy outcomes in the coming months and years.
The report demonstrates the potential for public policy outcomes to be achieved with a focus on research into very specific policy concerns and the development of an understanding into how best they can be tackled.
With the Nudge Unit expected to look at a number of other streams of work in the coming year, including alternative ways of tackling the levels of red tape facing businesses and trial schemes to reduce public sector, fraud, debt & error, BIT will be looking to generate further success in the lead up to its sunset review in July 2012.
Continued awareness of this tightly-focussed and research heavy approach to policy is of vital importance to businesses and other organisations engaging with Government. To be successful, businesses need to work with policy-makers to develop a rigorous evidence base. In this way, true partnership between business and Government can address pressing challenges in public policy.