What the words mean

The four tiers of UK action

Action on a policy runs through four groups, and each one has a different job. We follow a single policy action across all four, so a break in the chain is visible.

• The public

  Where the pressure starts.

  What it leaves on the record: Petition signatures and submissions to public meetings.

• Parliament

  Carries the demand into the formal record. It cannot deliver policy itself.

  What it leaves on the record: Votes in the Commons and the Lords, in Holyrood, the Senedd and Stormont, and Early Day Motions.

• The executive

  Answers the demand, and can change the law.

  What it leaves on the record: Publications from government departments, ministerial statements and legal orders.

• Councils

  Answers the demand, and is the tier that changes things on the ground.

  What it leaves on the record: Formal decisions recorded in the minutes of council meetings.

Parliament can vote and it can sign motions, but it cannot deliver policy. Only the executive and councils can. A vote that no department answers is a finding in its own right, not a missing number.

The four verdict words

Every public body gets one of four words for each policy action we track.

• Acting

  The body took a decision that commits it. A council adopted the motion, or a chamber voted in favour.

  What it does not tell you: It says a decision was taken. It does not say the decision was carried out.

• Acknowledging

  The body has the matter in front of it and has not decided. Somebody moved a motion, signed an Early Day Motion, or the item was noted.

  What it does not tell you: Nothing binds the body yet. An item can sit here for years and never come to a vote.

• Blocking

  The body turned it down. A council rejected the motion, or a chamber voted against.

  What it does not tell you: It records one decision on one action. A body can reject one motion and pass a similar one later.

• Silent

  We found no record of this body dealing with this action at all.

  What it does not tell you: It is a statement about what we found, not about what the body did. A decision we could not read is silent here too.

The decision statuses

A single decision carries a more exact word than the verdict does. These are taken from what the body itself recorded in its minutes or in Hansard.

• It moved forward

  The body agreed to it, or put it formally on the table.

  Adopted · Passed · Agreed · Recommended · Proposed

• It was turned down

  The body decided against it. A record may word this as "not passed", which means the same thing.

  Rejected · Refused · Opposed

• No decision yet

  The body put the decision off, or sent it somewhere else first.

  Deferred · Consultation · Pending · Referred

• It was only mentioned

  The matter came up and the body committed to nothing. Noting a report is not agreeing to it.

  Mentioned · Noted

How firm a commitment looks

On a government department's page a bar shows how firm its position looks, from 0 to 100 per cent.

The bar is worked out from the kind of document we found. A vote is scored on the share of votes in favour. A petition or an Early Day Motion is scored on how many people signed it, and 10,000 signatures counts as full strength.

• Strong commitment · 70% or more

  Something that binds the body, such as statutory guidance or a formal decision.

• Moderate commitment · 40–69%

  A statement of intent, such as a report, a review or guidance with no legal force.

• Weak sign of support · Under 40%

  A claim that costs nothing to make, such as a press release, a speech or a leaflet.

What it does not tell you: The bar says how firm the words are. It does not say whether the body delivered anything. A council can pass a binding decision and change nothing.

We chose these bands, and the order of the documents below. They are our judgement, not a rule anybody else set. If you think one of them is wrong, tell us and say why.

How firm a document is

Public bodies write in three registers, and they do not carry the same weight. We rank them, and we say so.

• High

  It binds the body in law, or by its own rules.

  For example: Statutory guidance, legal orders, and a council decision that passed.

• Medium

  It states an intention. The intention may be real. Nothing holds the body to it.

  For example: Policy papers, strategies and consultations.

• Low

  It is a claim. A claim is easy to make and easy to drop.

  For example: Press releases, speeches and announcements.

A run of press releases with nothing binding behind them is the pattern this site was built to show: plenty of visible activity, and nothing the body has to do.

Two findings you will see named

Some things this site reports are not a verdict on one body. They are a pattern across the chain.

• Signal gap

  Parliament voted for something, or signed up to it, and no government department answered. The vote is left stranded.

  What it does not tell you: It measures what departments published. A department that acted without publishing anything looks the same as one that did nothing.

• Time decay

  An old decision counts for less than a recent one. A promise made five years ago and never repeated is a weak guide to what a body intends today.

  What it does not tell you: It weighs how recent a decision is, not whether the decision was kept. A body that repeats a commitment keeps its weight up without doing anything new.