The search for coordination: the case of the central policy review staff and social policy planning, 1971-77

The Central Policy Review Staff (CPRS) attempted to create an ambitious strategy for the horizontal coordination of social policy in the UK during the early 1970s. The attempt - inspired largely by planning, programming and budgeting systems - was a failure, and gave way to a much modified 'joint framework for social policies' in 1975. Recent research has compared the CPRS's joint framework approach to the Labour government's promotion of 'joined-up government' (JUG) in the 2000s. This article provides a case study of the CPRS's work on social policy planning, using archival sources. The case study addresses themes that remain significant, particularly approaches to and the politics of horizontal coordination. Finally, the article makes a modest attempt to signal the differences between the 1970s' approach and 'JUG'.