The Big Lottery Fund and the Institute of Government have formed a partnership aimed at influencing government policy.

The partnership, called Connecting Policy with Practice: People Powered Change, will see civil servants visit local projects funded by BIG to see first-hand how policy works in practice.

Through workshops and events, the Institute of Government will aim to share insights about how policy-making can be more responsive to the needs of users.

The programme will start in January, lasting 12 months. Policy-makers will visit BIG’s programmes involving Neets (young people not in employment, education or training) and adults with complex needs.

Dharmendra Kanani, England director of the Big Lottery Fund (pictured), told civilsociety.co.uk that BIG wanted to involve government in its learning and development from programmes to seriously affect policy and change.

Peter Thomas, programme director at the Institute for Government, added: “Civil servants know that policy-making isn’t good enough. This programme gives them a very practical way to look differently at some of the toughest policy areas. They will see what works, what doesn’t – and how government could do things differently. We think it will change how they see their policy world.”