ABSTRACT
This chapter makes some comparative observations about the several case studies in terms of movement through the stages of the policy framework. It discusses aspects of the studies which lead to suggestions for achieving better policy outcomes in the future. Policy agendas are crowded and hence policy issues can compete intensely with each other for attention. The character of the evaluation stage in policy development is influenced by whether and how that stage is linked, in an organisational sense, with earlier stages in policy development. Attention has been drawn to careful selection of some of players in the policy exercises driven by ministers. Ministers were looking for bureaucratic drivers who could work in partnership with them. More junior-level public servants may consider, after reading through the cases, that there is little in the policy process that they can influence; and in any case it’s all too hard if major reform is to be achieved, particularly given paramount importance of ‘politics’.
