Volume 15: Government and Public Administration
3. Policy-making and legislation
Introduction

3.1 This chapter describes the process whereby the wishes of Ministers, election pledges and manifesto commitments, were turned into 'policy' - ie, practical measures for dealing with issues, problems or concerns. Mr Charles Capstick (Head of MAFF's Food Safety Directorate) told the Inquiry that a policy had to be:

. . . appropriate, proportionate, legally feasible and, in practice, achievable. ¹

3.2 This process could be time-consuming. It involved formulating the most appropriate way to proceed, by means of discussions within government (among officials of one or more Departments, between officials and Ministers, and among Ministers), drawing on specialist advice, and consultation with interested parties, which might be required by law. The resulting measures might then need to be the subject of a prescribed procedure, such as the making of a Regulation, or promulgated in some other appropriate manner. The final stage, obtaining the agreement of Parliament, is described later in this chapter. If primary legislation (ie, a new Act of Parliament) was required, this could add up to a year to the process.