2. Explore your options for bringing in expertise 

As a minister, there is a range of tools that allow you to draw on outside expertise. Advisory committees can provide advice in various ways. Some may be standing committees about a broadly defined policy area, while others may be set up on an ad hoc basis. They can perform a variety of functions – for example, the Net Zero Innovation Board provides strategic oversight of government’s energy innovation programmes. Committees are a useful way to bring together a range of perspectives on an issue, including from academia, industry and the third sector, and test your assumptions.

Some committees – such as the Migration Advisory Committee – may be more independent from government, with a secretariat and greater powers such as the ability to make direct recommendations. These tend to be advisory non-departmental public bodies, sponsored by your department. Such committees can act as a reliable institution for a policy area that requires consensus and a long-term evidence base. In cases where you seek a solution to a specific problem, you can appoint an external expert to lead a policy review. These studies of government policy, like the Dilnot commission into adult social care funding, can gather evidence through submissions and make recommendations.

"So the first thing, I had an advisory group of stakeholders, and I said: ‘Look, I have come in, I have looked at my portfolio, I want to do this because I think it has been completely neglected, what is your advice?’ And we went from there."

Lynne Featherstone, Spokesperson for energy and climate change (2015–19)