Central Policy Review Staff

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Central Policy Review Staff (CPRS) was a small, independent unit in the UK Cabinet Office set up to help plan long-term government strategy and coordinate policy across departments. It was created in February 1971 by Prime Minister Edward Heath and lasted until after the 1983 election when Margaret Thatcher disbanded it. The CPRS was born from a 1970 white paper on reorganizing central government.

Over its 12-year life, the CPRS had four directors: Lord Rothschild (1971–1974), Sir Kenneth Berrill (1974–1980), Sir Robin Ibbs (1980–1982), and John Sparrow (1982–1983). Most directors came from business or academia before moving into government work, with Rothschild from Shell, Berrill as an academic economist at Cambridge, Ibbs from Imperial Chemical Industries, and Sparrow from Morgan Grenfell. The unit was intentionally small, never more than about 20 staff plus support, and most people stayed about two years. Its members came from academia, civil service, and business, especially oil companies like Shell or BP.

Three of the four prime ministers who oversaw the CPRS thought it did worthwhile work. Heath praised it as well-researched and valuable for keeping government cohesive. Wilson also spoke positively, and Callaghan thought highly of it too. Thatcher, by 1983, felt the CPRS reflected a past era of technocratic thinking in a government with a stronger ideological direction, and she decided to abolish it. After its closure, some of its functions moved to the Downing Street policy unit.

One of the CPRS’s most controversial projects was The Review of Overseas Representation, published in August 1977. Started in 1975, it broadened to examine the BBC and the British Council. The Foreign Office intervened before the final version reached the Prime Minister, and there are claims that the document was altered. The report drew mixed reactions and sparked debates in the House of Lords and a Commons Select Committee. There was also evidence in diaries of effort to pressure media coverage against the CPRS.

Key points
- Created February 1971 by Edward Heath; disbanded after the 1983 election by Margaret Thatcher
- Directors: Rothschild, Berrill, Ibbs, Sparrow
- Size: typically under 20 staff
- Purpose: long-term policy planning and cross-government coordination
- Notable issue: The Review of Overseas Representation (1977), which drew criticism and political controversy