Cabinet
Office/HM Treasury: Principles
of Managing Risks to the Public
Government will
seek to base decisions on all relevant evidence.
Government will
aim to ensure that all relevant evidence has been
considered and, where possible, quantified before
it takes decisions on risk. It will seek
impartial and informed advice that can be
independently verified wherever possible, and
seek to build a shared understanding of the risks
and options for action. It will consider evidence
from a range of perspectives, including the
public as well as experts. It will not use the
absence of evidence alone to prove the absence or
presence of threat, and will acknowledge
alternative interpretations of the available
evidence. It will make clear how evidence has
informed its decisions and will keep them under
review as new evidence comes to light.
- Proportionality
and consistency
Government will
act proportionately and consistently in dealing
with risks to the public.
Government will
base all decisions about risks on what best
serves the public interest. Action taken to
tackle risks to the public will be proportionate
to the level of protection needed and targeted to
the risk. Government will seek to apply a
consistent approach to its assessment of risks
and opportunities and to its evaluation of the
costs and benefits of options for handling them,
and will ensure that these are clearly
articulated. It will apply the precautionary
principle where there is good reason to believe
that irreversible harm may occur and where it is
impossible to assess the risk with confidence,
and will plan to revisit decisions as knowledge
changes.
Strategy
Unit's Risk: improving
government's capability to handle uncertainty
5.14 Important
lessons have been learned about the value of
evidence-based decision making, openness and
engagement, proportionality, consistency and
targeting as part of the government’s reform
agenda. The government has taken a number of steps to
lay the foundations for better decision making about
risks affecting the public. Principles of
evidence-based decision making, openness and
engagement are among those included in Better Policy
Making. These principles are reflected in other
cross-cutting policy initiatives, such as the Better
Regulation Task Force’s (BRTF) Principles for
Good Regulation.