Assessing policy co-ordination in government: Text and network analysis of the UK's economic strategies

Lack of consistency has long been noted as a weakness in government policy-making, but it has previously been difficult to assess the extent of the absence of strategic co-ordination. This paper investigates this shortcoming by applying computational linguistics and network tools to provide some evidence on the lack of policy co-ordination in the UK. We use two key economic strategy documents produced during the Johnson administration—the 2021 Plan for Growth and the 2021 UK Innovation Strategy—to analyse all subsequent policy documents produced by the same administration. The extent of linguistic discontinuity provides some indication of the extent of the absence of policy co-ordination in that administration's economic policies, reinforced by analysis showing a similar lack of ‘joining up’ in government departmental networks.