The Number 10 Policy Unit is a body of policymakers based in
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along wi ...
, providing policy advice directly to the
British Prime Minister. Originally set up to support
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...
in 1974, it has gone through a series of guises to suit the needs of successive prime ministers, staffed variously by political advisers, civil servants and more recently a combination of both.
The Coalition Government of May 2010 quickly disbanded two major parts of central infrastructure built by
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
, the
Prime Minister's Delivery Unit (PMDU) and
Prime Minister's Strategy Unit (PMSU), as part of the Prime Minister's agenda to reduce the number of
special advisers and end the micromanagement of
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...
. In their place, a strengthened Policy and Implementation Unit was launched in early 2011 by the Cabinet Secretary, staffed wholly by civil servants and reporting jointly to the
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
and
Deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...
under joint heads Paul Kirby (Policy) and Kris Murrin (Implementation).
Members of the Policy Unit in 2010 were Gavin Lockhart-Mirams (Home Affairs), Sean Worth (Health and Adult Social Care), Chris Brown (Education), Richard Freer (Defence), Tim Luke (Business and Enterprise), Michael Lynas (
Big Society
The Big Society was a sociopolitical concept of the first 15 years of the 21st century, that was developed by the populist Steve Hilton, that sought to integrate free market economics with a conservative paternalist conception of the social con ...
) and Ben Moxham (Energy and Environment). The Unit is supported by the Research and Analytics Unit.
Andrew Griffith MP was the director of the Policy Unit until 8 July 2022.
The vacant post was filled by Jamie Hope on 6 September 2022 as part of the incoming
Truss ministry.
List of Policy Directors
See also
*
Central Policy Review Staff
The Central Policy Review Staff (CPRS), nicknamed the "Think-Tank", was an independent unit within the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom tasked with developing long term strategy and co-ordinating policy across government departments. It was es ...
*
Prime Minister's Office
References
{{Downing Street
British Prime Minister's Office
Public bodies and task forces of the United Kingdom government
Public policy in the United Kingdom
1974 establishments in the United Kingdom