Policy Impact of the Constitution Unit
The main policy changes which the Unit has helped to influence include the following.
References in brackets are to the Unit publications which helped inform the change.
Whitehall

Encouraging the adoption of a proper Cabinet Manual for Whitehall (Making
Minority Government Work: Hung Parliaments and the Challenges for
Westminster and Whitehall, 2009 and A Plea for Revised Guidance on how
Governments are formed and operate, 2010)
Parliamentary reform

Initiating Wright Committee 2009 proposal of a Backbench Business
Committee for the House of Commons (The House Rules? International
Lessons for Enhancing the Autonomy of the House of Commons, 2007)

Informing media and parliamentary debate about Lords reform (Elected
Second Chambers and Their Powers: an International Survey, 2012; House
Full: Time to Get a Grip on Lords Appointments, 2011)

Directly informing the House of Lords Appointments Commission (Analysis of
Existing Data on the Breadth of Expertise and Experience in the House of
Lords, 2010) and Royal Commission on Reform of the House of Lords
(various reports, 1999)

Reforming the House of Lords in stages, rather than a single big bang
(Reform of the House of Lords, 1996 and Reforming the Lords: A step by step
guide, 1998)
Freedom of Information

Informing and influencing Parliament’s post-legislative review of the FOI Act
in 2011-12 (Does Freedom of Information Work? The impact of FOI on
central government in the UK).
Devolution

Producing the first book on Scottish independence, which pointed out that an
independent Scotland would not automatically be a member of the EU
(Scottish Independence: A Practical Guide, 2002)

Holding pre rather than post legislative referendums in 1997 on devolution in
Scotland and Wales (An Assembly for Wales, 1996)

Defining the powers reserved rather than the powers devolved in the Scotland
Act 1998, reversing the architecture of the Scotland Act 1978 (Scotland’s
Parliament: Fundamentals for a new Scotland Act, 1996)
Elections, parties and referendums

Laying the ground for the government’s 2008 review of new voting systems
(Changed Voting Changed Politics: Lessons of Britain's Experience of PR
since 1997, 2004 report of the Independent Commission on PR)

Changing the law on candidate selection and sex discrimination to enable an
increase in women’s representation (Women’s Representation in UK Politics:
What can be done within the Law? 2000, and The Women’s Representation
Bill: Making It Happen, 2001)

Establishing the Electoral Commission to supervise referendums and
elections (Commission on the Conduct of Referendums, 1996 and
Establishing an Electoral Commission, 1997 and Review of Local
Government Commission and Parliamentary Boundary Commissions, 1998)
The courts and the legal system

Building the case, and considering alternative models for the new Supreme
Court (What do the Top Courts do? 2000, and The Future of the UK’s Highest
Courts, 2001 and A new Supreme Court for the UK, 2002)
Human Rights Act

Setting out different models for a parliamentary bill of rights without strike
down powers for the courts (Human Rights Legislation, 1996)

Setting out possible models for a parliamentary human rights committee (A
Human Rights Committee for Westminster, 1999)