One of the key objectives of the Behavioural Insights Team at its creation in 2010 was to spread the understanding of behavioural approaches across the policy community.
Alongside the policy work and trials conducted by the Team over the last three years, we have conducted many seminars, workshops and talks with policymakers, academics and practitioners.
From these many sessions, together with our trials and policy work, has emerged a simple, pragmatic framework: the EAST framework. EAST stands for Easy, Attractive, Social and Timely.
Though we do not claim that EAST is a comprehensive summary of all there is to know about behavioural science, we do think that for busy policymakers, the EAST framework is an accessible, simple way to make more effective and efficient policy.
Minister for Government Policy, Oliver Letwin, said:
“The behavioural science literature can be complex, so having a simple framework which policymakers can easily access and apply is invaluable. As the Minister responsible for Government Policy, I’ve seen how some of these insights can be applied in practice to help generate policy that’s smarter, simpler and is highly cost-effective.”
Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude said:
“The publication of this framework, only two months after we announced the spin out of the Behavioural Insights Team into a mutual joint-venture, is a clear sign that this new business model will deliver results both for policymakers and for citizens. Giving the team the freedom to meet demand from across the public and private sectors, not just in the UK but overseas, is enabling more people to benefit from their work – and our retained stake means that their success is also a win for hardworking taxpayers.”
