Planning & Resourcing for the Parliamentary Agenda

To meet the electoral goals of The People, The Executive defines the Bill Framework, the Parliamentary Agenda and specifies Policy objectives for each Bill. It then adjusts the relative sector-by-sector resourcing needed to support the planned workload and passes these requirements down to the Policy Council (the Second Tier of Government) via the respective Ministers.

How Policy is Debated, Drafted and Finalised to Become Law

The Policy Council drafts proposed policy in accordance with the Parliamentary Agenda and Statements of Bill Requirements established by the Executive. The purpose being not to keep re-inventing policy (as for our current system) but to establish and specify those changes required to meet objectives on a basis of evolving strategic continuity.

To assist in this, MPs in the House of Commons debate views and needs between themselves and with their constituents, informing the Policy Council accordingly.

Proposed Draft Bills are then passed down from the Policy Council to the House of Commons for further debate, involving their constituents as necessary -requesting reworks as necessary. They then vote in the Commons Lobbies, as they do today, towards the formation of law.

The Policy Council – Role in Policy Formation

The Policy Council is is a semi-autonomous, wide-bandwidth, sector-devolved organisation under the centralised management of The Executive. It consists of teams called “Sector Management Groups” – that both establish proposed policy (for further debate in the Legislature) and monitor the day-to-day performance of organisations with that Sector.

Sector Management Groups

A structure of 13 SMGs is proposed (subject to further consultation) :

(1) Citizenship & Immigration (2) Foreign & EU Affairs (3) Police, Justice & Prisons (4) Business, Hospitality & Tourism (5) Jobs, Pensions, Social Security (6) Housing, Building & Local Government Coordination (7) Ecology, Food, Water, Rivers, Coasts (8) Health & Social Care (9) Education (10) Energy Infrastructure (11) Transport (12) Technology, Communications, Media, Culture & Sport (13) Defence (under special security).

Each of these SMGs is headed by a peer-elected Group Leader, who also fulfils the role of the related Minister (as previously described under “Representation”).

It is proposed that SMG’s 1 and 2 be purely political – therefore resourced only by Politicians assigned to that sector. Whilst the other eleven SMGs be resourced by an equal number of Politicians and Sector Representatives – each with an equal voice in the debate and in the drafting of proposed Policy (usually in the form of Draft Bills).

How Politicians Are Deployed for the Best Policy Outcomes

Politicians are deployed to SMGs by their Party Leader, in collaboration with the Cabinet Office – ensuring a balanced and electorally-proportional assignment -starting with the smaller Parties. This enables Parties to target those sectors where they feel their proposals would be most beneficial -in accordance with their manifestos. For example, a small party with only 2 Politicians could chose the Education & Healthcare Sectors.

How Budgetary Control and Fiscal Policy / Taxation Is Managed

By a branch of the Executive called The Fiscal Office. This is essentially an overseeing Sector Management Group, headed by the PM’s appointed Chancellor. It consists of representative from the OBR and a small team of professional economists.

They establish the budgets for each of the SMGs in accordance with the Parliamentary Agenda, monitoring expenditure and progress. Ensuring taxation and the national debt is best balanced and optimized to the best overall socioeconomic benefit – using AI as appropriate.

How Cross-Sector Coordination is Managed

One of the objectives of Unified Democracy is to ensure that the different sectors of our economy work seamlessly together (for example for Energy and Transport), and to counter the inefficiencies and frustrations of silo government. This is the primary role of the Cabinet Office, that would deploy AI in a task that will become increasingly challenging as our society gets ever more complex and integrated.

How an Education-Balanced Economy is Achieved

Within the structure of SMGs, the Education Group would play a central role in liaising with the other sectors in the planning of upcoming skills requirements. Ensuring these translate into supporting education policies in our schools and further-education institutions to maximise job availability – so as to meet personal aspirations and to ensure the UK’s essential cycle of continuous economic renewal and growth.

How Strategic Continuity of Policy is Achieved

Continuity of policy is achieved by the offset deployment of Politicians and Sector Representatives within the UK Policy Council – each of these groups passing know-how and work-in-progress information to the next.