Policy success: What is the role of implementation support programmes?

Abstract

The policy implementation process is often overlooked when policy is introduced potentially leading to policy failure. This is particularly relevant in complex policy areas where there is a lack of collaborative policy‐making and where implementation is in dispersed governance. This paper discusses the findings of a study examining a novel policy implementation support programme developed by the English Department of Health for the Care Act 2014, the most significant changes to the provision of social care for 60 years. Given the complexity of the changes, the Department of Health and its key partners introduced an Implementation Support Programme to increase the likelihood of effective implementation. As part of a suite of research studies, we examined the effectiveness of the implementation support programme in helping local authorities, responsible for social care delivery, implement the key Care Act priorities. We found that the support programme was effective in supporting ‘implementation readiness’ particular in situations where the context and policy itself are complex. We found that while important for the delivery of policy, such support programmes do not necessarily in themselves guarantee successful implementation. However, future evaluations of policy should include examining how the implementation is, or is not supported, in order to fully understand reasons for policy success and failure.

The policy formulation process, and the role of actors in the policy formulation and implementation process: A policy analysis of the Kenyan free maternity policy

“…However, there is an interaction and better coordination of roles at the periphery (county and facility level) in that the county has gone further to employ someone to ease communication and coordination with different national and county departments. While there are gaps in the implementation perspectives, our work has captured the importance of implementation readiness of policy, which is done by ensuring that organisations and players responsible for implementation have accepted and support the legitimacy of the policy and that there is sustained political support which comes with enhanced policy clarity of the objectives and that players have all these set within their local contexts [69][70][71].…”

Enhancing the Scrutiny Role of Select Committees: The House of Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee’s New Independent Expert Panel

“…Lack of clarity about how commitments will be monitored and tracked frequently led to problems with funding, data management planning and prevented a proper understanding of impact. Not surprisingly, the panel identified concerns about adequate implementation arising from a lack of appreciation of the complexity of implementation or the need for supporting implementationissues extensively identified in the policy literature (Hudson et al, 2019;Compton and t'Hart, 2020;Peckham et al, 2021).…”