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Document says most decisions reached through informal channels rather than formal coalition machinery The deputy prime minister’s office is ineffective, Liberal Democrat junior ministers are spread too thinly, and many policy decisions are made in regular evening phone calls between Nick Clegg and David Cameron, according to one of the most thorough studies of the coalition’s workings so far undertaken. The study, conducted by the respected Constitution Unit, involved interviews with more than 60 key players in Whitehall. It found most decisions were reached through informal channels as opposed to the formal coalition machinery set up by the government when it began. The report said the key bilateral meeting of the week is between Cameron and Clegg and takes place on Monday morning every week, attended by chiefs of staff and senior officials. There are preparatory meetings for the bilateral talks on Thursday or Friday. Cabinet colleagues and officials can ask for items to go on the agenda to get resolved at this level, and the report disclosed that Cameron and Clegg often talk by phone on Sunday evenings ahead of reaching a decision in the formal bilateral on Monday. The Constitution Unit said it did not find the two parties were at ideological odds or involved in frequent personal disagreements. Its report said: “The informality of coalition decision making is based on high levels of trust between the leadership of the two parties. Trust, and the importance of compatible personalities, is essential for coalition government.” The high levels of trust have made it difficult for the Liberal Democrats to demonstrate their influence, the report suggested. It said the deputy prime minister’s office has been ineffective in coalition brokerage, whilst its special advisers had been outnumbered. And it singled out the home office as a department in which the Liberal Democrat minister Lynn Featherstone has little influence partly due to ideological differences with the home secretary, Theresa May. The report found: “The Lib Dems are still reeling from the loss of their state funding, given only to opposition parties. This has led to the loss of many of their staff. It may help explain their under-powered performance, particularly with the media. “By going for breadth over depth, and seeking to place a minister in every department, the Lib Dems have spread themselves too thinly. “Their objective was to influence every aspect of government policy. They may have achieved this, but it is very difficult to demonstrate to the public.” In some of its harshest criticism, the report found: “The deputy PM’s office has not established recognisable priorities for the Lib Dems; Lib Dem junior ministers struggle to play the cross-departmental role envisaged for them; special advisers do little to help, because (outside Cabinet Office and No 10) they do not have the confidence or experience to operate as coalition brokers.” Discussing the failure of Liberal Democrat ministers to follow policy across their departments, the unit found that “in practice, many Lib Dem junior ministers have been unable to perform this role: they lack the capacity to monitor policy across a whole department”. It added: “Lacking special advisers of their own, various ad hoc solutions have been reached, including additional support within their private office, relying more heavily on their parliamentary researcher, or calling upon the already overstretched Lib Dem policy unit”. The unit’s report also reveals something about how the civil service has tried to accommodate working for two parties simultaneously. It reveals: “Papers for cabinet committees must state what has been done to ensure collective approval – that the policy has been checked against the coalition agreement; cleared with the Treasury; and with the parliamentary business managers. It says the six key civil servants or political advisers are Jeremy Heywood/Chris Wormald, as the senior civil servants, Oliver Letwin/Douglas Alexander as politicians and Ed Llewellyn/Jonny Oates as political advisers. They are tasked with ensuring issues “do not jump between the different tracks”. In a sign of the ideological unity inside departments, the unit said: “There have been very few – if any – cases where ministers in departments have divided on party lines. “Indeed, across whole swathes of policy the coalition partners have discovered little difference in their policy responses when confronted with the hard choices of government. “Serious disagreements are more often between ministers of the same party, in classic interdepartmental disputes (eg Ken Clarke vs Theresa May on justice versus security; Vince Cable vs Chris Huhne on business disliking climate change policies). Issues are seldom presented in terms of reconciling Lib Dem and Conservative views – it is generally about reconciling technical issues or conflicting interdepartmental interests.” If the secretary of state does not wish to involve a junior minister, the coalition agreement cannot make it happen, the report found. It suggested the Liberal Democrats will have to do more to strengthen their backbench committees in parliament to strengthen the party’s visible influence. Liberal-Conservative coalition Nick Clegg David Cameron Lynne Featherstone Oliver Letwin Douglas Alexander Vince Cable Chris Huhne Kenneth Clarke Theresa May Conservatives Liberal Democrats Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk