Maps roles, institutions, and access channels journalists need to identify who controls a policy area.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/autopunk-media-skills:policy-decisionmakers-finderThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
Maps the roles, institutions, and access channels a journalist needs to identify who actually controls a given policy area — from elected officials to unelected technocrats to influential advisers.
Maps the roles, institutions, and access channels a journalist needs to identify who actually controls a given policy area — from elected officials to unelected technocrats to influential advisers.
Required: The specific policy area or issue (e.g. "urban housing planning approval," "national broadband infrastructure rollout," "pharmaceutical pricing regulation") Optional: The country or jurisdiction; the level of government (national, regional, local); whether you need elected officials, unelected officials, or both; whether you are looking for current or former decisionmakers; the angle of your story (accountability, access, process)
A structured briefing of 400–600 words divided into four sections: (1) the formal power structure with role titles and institutions; (2) the informal power layer — advisers, secondees, or intermediary bodies that shape decisions without holding formal authority; (3) recommended approach channels for each tier; (4) suggested flanking sources. Written in plain editorial English, ready to share with an editor or producer. No bullet-point lists of invented individuals — roles and institutions only.
Policy area: social care funding reform Jurisdiction: England (national level) Angle: accountability — who signed off on the delayed implementation of a means-testing overhaul Story type: investigative news feature Need both elected and unelected officials
Policy Decisionmakers Brief: Social Care Funding Reform — England
Formal Power Structure
The central authority sits with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who has statutory responsibility for the care system and signs off on major funding policy changes. Beneath them, the Minister of State for Social Care holds day-to-day political responsibility and is the most accessible point for parliamentary accountability. Any delay to an implementation timetable of this scale would require sign-off at both ministerial levels and likely a formal submission to HM Treasury.
The permanent secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care is the senior civil servant accountable for implementation. The director general for social care is the operational lead within the department. These are unelected officials who rarely give interviews but are named in departmental organograms published on the government website.
The independent regulator with a stake in this area is the Care Quality Commission, but it has no role in funding policy. The Office for Budget Responsibility will have modelled the fiscal impact of the means-testing change; their published analyses are a useful paper trail.
Informal Power Layer
HM Treasury's spending teams exercise significant unofficial control over any social care reform with a multi-billion-pound price tag. The second permanent secretary at Treasury responsible for public spending is a key figure. Watch also for the Number 10 Policy Unit, which has historically intervened in care reform when the political stakes are high — the unit's composition can be found via published Cabinet Office records.
Independent advisory input typically comes from the Social Care Reform Advisory Group or equivalent ad hoc bodies commissioned by the department. Membership lists are published in the consultation record.
Recommended Approach Channels
Flanking Sources
Note: Verify current post-holders via the government's official directory and check for any machinery-of-government changes since your last research session. Ministerial portfolios shift frequently.
npx claudepluginhub ur-grue/autopunk-media-skills --plugin autopunk-media-skillsMaps key individuals and institutions with decision-making power over a policy issue, highlighting formal authority, influence, and pressure points for journalists.
Maps power dynamics including formal authority, informal influence, gatekeeping, and expertise to analyze decision-making contexts and identify key stakeholders.
Maps actual decision authority and influence in organizations, distinguishing real power from formal titles. Use when engaging customers, partners, or internal teams to build strategy based on who truly decides.