Government Operational Research Service: Civil OR in UK Central Government

We describe the increasing importance of UK Civil Government OR and explore possible reasons for its expansion. We consider the organization of OR in Departments using centralized and bedded-out models, and describe the work it does in terms of the areas it covers and the techniques it employs; we also describe some specific projects and discuss the general points that arise from them. We analyse the present state of Government OR in terms of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and conclude that the reality has advanced further than corresponding perceptions.