Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit Achieving Culture Change David Knott and Stephen Muers 22 nd June 2007

2 What is culture change? 1. Seeking to change specific attitudes at a society-wide level 2. Seeking to influence underlying attitudes on a cluster of values at a society-wide level 3. Seeking to change specific attitudes at a sub- group level 4. Seeking to influence underlying attitudes on a cluster of values at a sub-group level Specific attitude General attitude Whole society Sub group Focus of policy intervention Target level

3 Examples of culture change Whole population Sub group Specific attitude General attitude Seat belts EMAs Respect agenda PHSE classes ‘Britishness’, community cohesion Council stock transfer 1980s Alcohol duty Teenage pregnancy Mentoring programmes School leaving age Congestion charge/ air duty Pain reporting Personal aspirations Healthy living Pension reforms Relative focus of policy intervention Relative degree of targeting

4 Why does culture change matter? Efficiency objectives: - High cost-benefit ratios of behaviour based interventions - Higher productivity in public expenditure areas e.g. Wanless scenarios Social objectives: - Reducing inequalities in public service outcomes - Increasing social mobility - Creating more community cohesion and pro-social behaviour - Encouraging sustainability use of environmental resource

5 What are the drivers of culture change?

6

7 There are three main policy stages to developing a culture change strategy 1. Identify and segment the range of groups and profiles 2. Assess what is driving attitudes and behaviour in the area 3. Determine suitability of different levers - what does and doesn’t work? Clarify objective and rationale for intervening Establish how progress will be monitored and roll out managed

8 1. Identify and segment different groups and profiles Example: those aged Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET)

9 2. Assess the drivers of attitudes and behaviour For example through responses to attitudinal surveys: “Staying in education after the age of 16 is an important thing to do” (attitude) “People close to me say that it is important for me to remain in education after the age of 16” (social norm) “I intend to remain in education after the age of 16” (intention) “I have control over whether or not I remain in education after the age of 16” (self-efficacy)

10 3. Determine suitability of interventions

11 Some areas for discussion How should we go about segmenting different profiles and groups in practice? What do we do in cases where there are multiple goals and/or overlapping user profiles? What do we know about how attitudes, values and aspirations affect behaviour in different areas? Are there any cases where these have a much stronger effect than incentives, legislation, and information approaches? How effective are interventions to tackle entrenched attitudes? (e.g. parenting programmes, mentoring) Are there problems with using such approaches? (e.g. public acceptance)