Assessment Task: Policy analysis

Background

For this task, students will select, and then represent, a non-Government organisation (NGO) with an interest in one of the listed proposed policy change issues. Students will assume the role of the NGO's Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer, and conduct an analysis of the proposed policy change. This will include analysing relevant evidence, identifying political/stakeholder interests, assessing strengths and weaknesses of the proposed changes, and discussing potential implementation issues, as well as commenting on likely impacts on the population group represented by the NGO.

Students will present their policy analysis in the form of an open letter to a key political figure such as the Minister for Health. This open letter from the NGO will attempt to use the findings obtained by the policy analysis (i.e. the stakeholder interests, implementation and impact issues) to persuade the political figure into taking a position favourable to the NGO

Purpose

To introduce students to policy analysis techniques, and to articulate the findings of the analysis to a specific audience

Instructions
You must select a topic for policy analysis from the list below, and select an NGO as your own "interest" in this policy.

1. No jab no pay: From 1 January 2016 only parents of children (less than 20 years of age) who are fully immunised or are on a recognised catch-up schedule can receive the Child Care Benefit, the Child Care Rebate and the Family Tax Benefit Part A end of year supplement. The relevant vaccinations are those under the National Immunisation Program (NIP), which covers the vaccines usually administered before age five. These vaccinations must be recorded on the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR). Given your perspective as a key stakeholder in this policy area, what is your organisation's reaction to this initiative?

2. Introduction of a sugar tax: In March 2016, the UK government announced that a new sugar tax on the soft drinks industry would be introduced. The BBC has written a good explanation of how the sugar tax will work in the UK. There is increasing support in favour of introducing a sugar tax in Australia but the federal government remains staunchly opposed to any tax on sugary drinks or other unhealthy food choices. It holds that this tax will make people angry and will pave the way to the proponents of other similar taxes such as fat taxes.Given your perspective as a key stakeholder in this policy area, what is your organisation's position on the possible implications of introducing a sugar tax in Australia?

3. My Health Record: The My Health Records Act 2012 (My Health Records Act) together with the My Health Records Rule 2016 and the Health Records Regulation 2012 created the legislative framework for the federal government to introduce its digital My Health Record system. This digital system contains online summaries of an individual's health information, which can be viewed and shared by healthcare providers involved in delivering care. The government has promised the protection and security of private information. Under this legislation, a My Health Record will be automatically created for every person unless they choose to opt-out of the system by 15 October 2018. Given your perspective as a key stakeholder in this policy area, what is your organisation's position on the introduction of the opt-out My Health record system in Australia?

4. Other: For those students interested in other topics, you will need to first seek written approval from the Lecturer in Charge (LIC).

This assessment involves conducting a policy analysis on the policy proposal and then presenting it as an open letter to the Minister for Health. These politicians are a critical political element, and will play a significant role in whether this policy proposal will be implemented.

Your open letter will be written on behalf of your NGO. You need to determine your NGO's position on the policy (e.g. for, against, acceptable with modifications...), and write a letter to persuade the Minister to support the policy proposal in line with your NGO's position. To be persuasive, your letter will need to provide an authoritative analysis of the policy proposal, and be written in a professional and effective fashion.

Policy analysis
Your policy analysis will focus on the interests, implementation and impact of the policy proposal as presented in lectures and discussed in tutorials. You should consider the content and method described in Chapters 1, 6, 7 and 10 of the following e-Book:

K Buse, N Mays & G Walt (2012), MakingHealth Policy(2ed). London: Open University Press.

You will be assessed on how you have analysed each element: interests, implementation and impact. As further guidance for each:

- Interests: In addition to the NGOs interest you have selected to represent, you must identify other potential interests involved in this policy area. Your policy analysis should then discuss the policy content, context and process in relation to these interests (or "actors") and their relative positions and power. Making Health Policy Chapters 1 and 6 will directly support you with this component of the task, as will the activity in the policy seminars. Marking criteria 1 and 2 are relevant to this aspect.

- Implementation: Chapter 7 of Making Health Policy describes several models of policy implementation. You will need to apply at least one model to the policy proposal. As these policies are at the proposal or early developmental stage, you will only be able to speculate on its implementation at this point. Your analysis should reflect this: based on the proposal, what do you think the implementation issues might be? You should also consider the interests you previously identified: do they have a role in implementation? Can they influence implementation in some way? Marking criterion 3 relates to this aspect of your analysis.

- Impacts: your discussion of impacts is likely to rely less on the Making Health Policy textbook, and more on independent research on how the policy proposal will impact on those affected by it. You should think of the impacts of the policy proposal at two levels: general impacts (on all those affected by the policy) and specific impacts (on the particular group that your NGO represents). In most cases, the NGO's represented group consists of a particular population; however, other NGOs represent industries/businesses, and so the "population" and relevant impacts will be different.

Your policy analysis forms the basis for your open letter to the Minister for Health: to inform him/her of what the interests are in the policy proposal (and their power/position), the potential implementation issues you foresee, and the likely impacts of the policy.

Open letters
An open letter is a common advocacy tool used by individuals, groups or organisations to communicate with Government/politicians or other public figures (the targets). An open letter is addressed to the target, but is also intended to be read by a wider audience. This wider audience is reached by publication of the letter in a newspaper or on a website, thus making it open.

An open letter is intended to inform or to persuade the target about an issue, and for the target to be publicly informed (i.e. before the wider audience that have also read the letter). The purpose of an open letter may be:
- To draw public attention to an important issue that is not well recognised
- To express support or criticism towards a certain political position or policy proposal
- To influence Members of Parliament, Ministers/Government, corporations or organisations
- To start a public debate or political dialogue.

Open letters are generally written by groups/organisations seeking to achieve any of the above. Open letters are sometimes written by individuals, and the individual is usually a prominent member of the community and/or an expert in the field. An open letter may also be written as a personal story from someone who has experienced the "issue" being debated. Their experience (e.g. of hardship resulting from that issue) then becomes anecdotal evidence that contributes to public debate.

Two open letters are provided as examples (see LEO). These open letters were written regarding other public health issues, and have been annotated to assist you in identifying key features. For other examples, please refer to the Public Health Association of Australia's advocacy website.

Guidance on writing an open letter
An effective open letter is clear, focused and informed. Clear in terms of writing, focused in terms of the point it wishes to make, and informed in terms of analysis and supporting evidence. Marking criterion 5 directly relates to these aspects of the task.

An open letter includes the normal features of any letter: sender, date, recipient, salutation, signature. For a letter from an organisation, it will have any relevant branding (e.g. logos).

Key considerations for your open letter for this task include:

- Opening: having the topic/issue/point of the letter at the beginning of the letter (i.e. first paragraph). The point you wish to make in the letter should not be hidden at the end. In an open letter, leaving your major point to the end is a risk-you are assuming that readers will make it that far.

- Self-description: an open letter from an organisation will usually follow this with a self-description. Even for well-known organisations (e.g. Australian Red Cross) will include some sort of self- description: who they are, what they believe, and any other relevant information. This should only ever be brief: it is not appropriate to include a lengthy description of your organisation.

- Content: the "body" of the letter will present your policy analysis and the interests, implementation and impacts of the proposed policy. You will likely have several points to make in relation to each;for example, with interests, you may wish to discuss high-power interests (and their position of support/opposition) together, and low-power interests as a separate point. Separate points should be separate paragraphs, and in general your paragraphs should be reasonably short (e.g. up to 150 words).

- Credibility: you are preparing an open letter from your NGO, and your NGO is a respected, credible stakeholder in this area of policy. Your open letter must also be credible to maintain that reputation. Aside from careful analysis, your open letter's credibility will depend on your use of supporting evidence, and referencing of that evidence. Supporting evidence will likely be more relevant to your impacts, analysis, and multiple sources of evidence are required.

- Concluding remarks: summarise your argument/point and relate it to the addressee. What is the key message that you want that person to take from the letter? To assist in doing so, you should consider how to make your argument/point relevant to that person. Your letter will likely contain much abstract discussion: facts, figures, policy analysis models. An effective way to end an open letter is to make those abstractions concrete, and embody them somehow.

learning outcomes:

1. Demonstrate specialised knowledge of public health law and policy in terms of function, importance and relevance to public health practice (GA: 2, 5)

2. Critique public health legislation and policies in relation to interests and influences involved, such as political imperatives and stakeholder advocacy (GA: 2, 4, 8)

3. Assess implementation of public health law and policy in terms of impacts, outputs and outcomes using contemporary methods, approaches or standards (GA: 4, 5, 6)