Policy Failure, Ignorance in Government and the Creation of a Hostile Environment for Health and Safety

Much of the social scientific literature examining knowledge use in public policy is biased towards the existence of learning. Yet, empirically we observe several institutions and policy domains that do not seem to learn at all, even when this may put in jeopardy human safety. Indeed, we can think of many cases of policy failures and disasters where learning has been entirely absent. In this paper, I explore this darker side of policy learning. Specifically, I draw on the concept of ignorance to explore non-learning in hierarchical settings. Empirically, we develop this model of non-learning by using an analytic narrative of successive residential high rise building fires in England and Scotland that preceded the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Our analysis identifies three types of ignorance that led to a de-coupling of regulation from safety, accountability and human beings themselves: ignorance as denial; ignorance as delegation of learning; and, ignorance as bureaucratic hubris. We conclude with the prospects for change in this area and specifically ask what it takes to create a functional learning environment.