Quality in policy support
New initiatives such as a policy support course and certification will contribute to the high quality of our research-based advice to the authorities. This will strengthen our position in the event of competitive tenders of the policy support tasks.
In AGRO, policy support tasks are important with regard to our finances, workload and work content. We have tasks of varying sizes for different agencies, from very short memos of a few pages and with short deadlines to years-long field trials.
At the present, catalogues describing environmental measures are on the agenda; the climate catalogue has just been completed while the nitrogen and phosphorous catalogues have been initiated. All three are elucidations in collaboration with other departments at ST plus the University of Copenhagen. The reports are quite comprehensive. For example, there are 43 nitrogen measures that need to be evaluated, and there are many authors and stakeholders in the form of agencies and organisations.
Regardless of whether the task is large or small, it is important to ensure quality and good routines – first and foremost so that we can vouch for the research-based advice that we deliver and certainly also to provide ourselves with reasonable working conditions.
To that aim, ST’s public sector consultancy committee has prepared a quality assurance memo that outlines procedures in connection with solving the tasks, right from the time when we receive the task to when it is quality assured and delivered.
New initiatives underway
In addition, new initiatives are underway. One of them is a course in research-based advice to the authorities with elements such as the good advisory process, research under the auspices of public sector consultancy, arm’s length in relation to stakeholders, conflict management, dealing with the press, communication, freedom of speech, and public sector consultancy as a business area. The course is a kind of advice to the authorities-parallel to the teaching courses for assistant professors. In the beginning, the course will probably be split into groups of new and experienced in the area.
Work is also being done on ISO 9001 certification of the policy support – i.e. an official accreditation of the procedures. I see this as a big advantage. Certification can contribute to streamlining, and ensuring that the many different cultures in the various corners of ST follow the same procedures. That is not the case today! There are in particular big differences with regard to how we communicate with the officials in the agencies. A certification would be able to ensure uniformity and documentation for each step in the process.
Competitive tender just around the corner
The Ministry of Environment and Food has given notice that the policy support tasks will be subject to competitive tender in the years to come. This has already happened in some areas. For example, the tender in the veterinary area has meant that the tasks will now be solved by Statens Serum Institut (SSI) instead of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), as was the case previously.
It is obviously hugely important for both ST and AGRO that we can win the tendered contracts. Important side effects of the course and the certification are therefore that they are competitive parameters that would be expected to improve our position when we experience that “our” areas are tendered.