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ANZSOG collaborates with Apolitical on How to Deliver Great Policy Advice

14 January 2026

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Every major government decision, from designing a health service to shaping wider public governance reforms, involves policy advice. But crafting advice that’s timely, influential and grounded in real-world insight, is no simple task. What makes policy advice effective, and how can public servants build the capabilities to deliver it? 

Together with Apolitical, ANZSOG recently delivered a masterclass on what it takes to deliver great policy advice in complex systems. The speakers were ANZSOG Practice Fellow Sally Washington, and Dr Barry Vaughan, Principal Officer in the Social Policy Division of the Irish Department of the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), who shared their extensive experience and insights on how quality policy advice supports good government decision making.  

They drew on policy improvement programs from Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia and Ireland and a range of other jurisdictions to showcase how public servants can effectively support governments to take better decisions.  Over 1000 public servants from around the world registered for the event.  

Take a systemic approach to improve policy – it’s not just about training

Ms Washington explained that many organisations and jurisdiction revert to “we just need to train our people better” when trying to improve the quality of advice to governments. She argues that a systemic approach is required, noting that: 

  • Good advice depends on good policy systems. She outlined her work on the components of the ‘policy infrastructure’, including systems, methods and tools to support and enable public servants to design and deliver good advice to ministers. 
  • A key ingredient in the policy infrastructure is a repeatable, scalable policy process model, like her ‘5D policy advice model’ which features in ANZSOG programs and has been adapted by the Irish government. A process model can act as “handrails, not handcuffs”, to guide public servants through the policy process, whether small tweaks to the status quo or large transformations. In contrast the traditional ‘policy cycle’ is “useful for teaching but not for doing”.   
  • The public service needs to articulate what good advice looks like – especially from the perspective of the ‘demand side’ (ministers and other decision makers).   

Dr Vaughan outlined how the Irish civil service conducted a comprehensive review of their policy systems with the support of the OECD and how they had drawn on Sally’s work for developing their Policy Handbook and wider policy improvement program. The Handbook includes a 5D policy process model nested within three pillars of:  Legitimacy; Data and Evidence; and Feasibility and Implementation. Barry has previously written an article for ANZSOG about how Ireland adopted and adapted Sally’s work.  

The lively discussion following the presentations was moderated by Apolitical’s Will Lockhart OBE, a who has previously worked in senior policy roles in the UK government. It included insights about how to deliver quick responses to urgent demands from ministers and speaking truth to power, the importance of building implementation into upfront policy advice, and the value of engaging with others in the policy value chain – from colleagues in other departments and other functional areas to citizens who will be affected by policy decisions.  

Resources

Learn more about the 5D policy advice model below, and view an animation of the 5D here.

Walker, C., & Washington, S. (2025). Guiding the provision of quality policy advice: the 5D model. Policy Design and Practice, 8(1), 1–14.