News story: Government harnesses advances in Behavioural Insights with new framework

Government has long seen the benefits of using behavioural insights to tailor public services to citizens, and the new CCS Behavioural Insights framework offers a wider choice of suppliers including small and medium-sized enterprises (SME).

The framework will support public bodies to procure the expertise of organisations that offer behavioural insights – changing the way policy is developed and public services are designed, making them more efficient and in tune with the needs and preferences of the public.

John Manzoni, Permanent Secretary for the Cabinet Office and Chief Executive of the Civil Service said:

Behavioural insights have been a part of policy making at the heart of government for a significant amount of time now. This new framework will enable all public sector organisations to access this expertise, helping them to design efficient, effective public services that meet the real needs of citizens.

David Skinner, Crown Commercial Service’s Director of Corporate Solutions said:

We’ve taken this opportunity to redesign our framework solution offer for Behavioural Insights, opening up the market to a wider range of expertise that can deliver greater outcomes and commercial benefit to our customers.

The agreement is expected to be worth up to £16 million over 4 years, with 6 suppliers appointed to offer their services, including 2 SMEs.

Since 2010, the government has used behavioural insights research to inform policy, with an emphasis on using a strong evidence base about human behaviour to find innovative ways of encouraging, enabling and supporting people to make better choices for themselves.

The framework is available for use by central government departments and other public sector bodies including NHS Trusts, schools, universities, colleges, local authorities and the Police and Fire Services.

CCS has developed the new framework in collaboration with partners including behavioural insights specialists across government.

To find out more about the framework, visit the CCS procurement pipeline.