Applying design approaches to policy making: discovering Policy Lab

University of Brighton

This report reviews what design-based approaches bring to policy making. It results
from an academic fellowship in which the author was embedded for one year in
Policy Lab, a specialist team based in the Cabinet Office of the UK government. The
report combines insights and quotations from ethnographic research and interviews
as well as commentary from other contributors to the emerging community of practice
around policy innovation.
Policy Lab was set up within the context of Civil Service reform and in particular the
Open Policy Making agenda. Funded by and working with government departments,
the Policy Lab team brings new methods and tools to policy making and supports
their practical application by civil servants.