From steering decision-making to stewarding cross-cutting policies, centres of government (CoGs) play a key role in achieving government ambitions. This compendium serves CoG leaders and government officials who seek to better understand the role of the centre in contributing to better outcomes for citizens and society.

Policy-makers and politicians often make anecdotal or fragmented use of research, using certain experiences and case stories to underpin policies as needed. They may also use evidence selectively to confirm their own beliefs or support political agendas. This paper has been prepared to support policy-makers’ research engagement skills that are needed at an organisational and...

The authors of this article find that politicians whose theoretical outlook is that voters have a long-term orientation are significantly more willing to opt for long-term policy solutions that impose short-term costs. They also fail to find a meaningful effect of election proximity on the preferences of politicians for short-term versus long-term policies.

In early 2022, the UK Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology, the main science advisory body to the Prime Minister, commissioned an independent review from the British Academy of science and public trust within the policy-making system. This report summarises the findings of the review.

The impacts of climate change are beginning to be felt, but successive governments have failed to prepare the United Kingdom to adapt effectively. This report looks at how government could move adaptation up the agenda and improve UK climate resilience.